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Iberoes  of  tbe  'Wations 

EDITED    BY 

Evelyn  Bbbott,  flD.H. 

FKLLOW  OF  BALLIOL  COLLEGE,  OXFORD 


FACTA    0UCI8   VIVENT    OPEROSAOUE 
GLORIA  RERUM.  — OVID,   IN  LIVIAM    265. 
THE  HERO'S  OEEOe  AND  HARD-WOM 
FAME  SHALL  LIVE. 


DANIEL  O'CONNELL 


DANIEL   O'CONNELL. 

FROM   THE   PAINTISO    BY    DAVID  WIUUE. 


DANIEL  O'CONNELL 

AND  THE  REVIVAL  OF  NATIONAL  LIFE 
IN  IRELAND 


BY 


ROBERT  DUNLOP,  M.A. 

AUTHOR  OF  "a  UFE  OF  HENRY  GRATTAN,"  ETC 


G.  P.  PUTNAM'S  SONS 

NEW    YORK  LONDON 

37  WEST  TWENTY-THIRD  STREET  24  BEDFORD  STREET,   STRAND 

C^e  ^nichtibochtx  ^itss 
1900 


Df) 

950.^2-2, 


Copyright,  1900 

BY 

G.  P.  PUTNAM'S  SONS 


tlbe  ftnfcherbocher  t>rcet,  'Rew  Cork 


I 


PREFACE. 

THIS  little  volume  is  not  offered  to  the  public  as 
a  mere  verbal  expansion  of  the  article  which  I 
contributed  a  few  years  ago  to  the  Dictionary 
of  National  Biography.  The  conditions  of  its  pro- 
duction have  allowed  of  freer  treatment  than  was 
possible  or  even  desirable  in  the  former  instance. 
At  the  same  time  I  have  endeavoured  to  maintain 
the  attitude  of  impartiality  which,  I  trust,  marked 
the  earlier  essay.  My  view  throughout  has  re- 
mained unchanged.  The  ashes  of  the  controversy 
that  raged  about  O'Connell  during  his  lifetime  are 
still  hot  in  the  path  of  his  biographer.  Perhaps 
even  yet  the  time  has  hardly  come  when  it  is  pos- 
sible to  judge  him  in  his  true  proportions.  Years  of 
study  devoted  to  Irish  history  and  a  warm  attach- 
ment to  the  land  of  my  literary  adoption  will,  I 
hope,  plead  for  me  with  those  who  regard  it  as  a 
presumption  for  anyone  save  an  Irishman  to  offer 
an  opinion  on  a  subject  peculiarly  Irish.  Fortunate 
in  possessing  dear  friends  in  both  camps,  and  know- 
ing that  however  divided  they  are  in  politics  they 
are  united  in  a  common  love  of  their  common 
country,  I  shall  account  myself  doubly  fortunate  if 
the  sketch  I   have  here  attempted   of  perhaps  the 


899515 


iv  Preface. 

most  illustrious  of  their  countrymen  tends  in  any 
—  even  the  slightest — degree  to  lessen  the  grounds 
of  difference  and  to  strengthen  the  bonds  of  union 
between  them.  Having  no  other  cause  to  serve  but 
that  of  truth,  I  have  concealed  nothing  and  set 
nothing  down  in  malice.  For  O'Connell  my  admira- 
tion has  increased  the  more  attentively  I  have 
studied  his  life ;  and  though  I  am  well  aware  that 
the  result  has  fallen  far  short  of  the  modest  ideal  I 
set  before  me,  I  have  tried  to  console  myself  with 
the  reflection  of  a  generous  critic,  who  was  wont  to 
remark  that,  "  nullum  esse  librum  tam  malum  ut  non 
aliqua  parte  prodesset." 

R.  D. 
October  28,  1899. 


0    l^irTt'Tl^^C^ 


O'CONNELL   COAT-OF-ARMS. 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER  I. 

PAGE 

EARLY    LIFE    AND    MARRIAGE   (1775-1802)  .  .  I 

Introduction — Birthplace — "A  gentle  lover  of  Nature" — 
Parentage  and  birth — Early  Impressions — School-days  at 
Cove,  St.  Omer,  and  Douay — French  Revolution — Enters 
Lincoln's  Inn — Plis  studies — Returns  to  Ireland — Historical 
retrospect — Is  called  to  the  Bar — Rebellion  of  '98 — Illness 
— Joins  the  Munster  circuit — Anecdote — Professional  Suc- 
cess— Irish  judges — Attitude  towards  the  Bench — "  Coun- 
sellor O'Connell " — Opposition  to  the  Union — First  political 
speech — Marriage — Domestic  felicity. 

CHAPTER  II. 

IRELAND    AFTER   THE   UNION    (1803-1812)  .  .       23 

The  Union  —  Emmet's  rebellion  —  O'Connell's  mission — 
Catholic  Agitation  revived — Catholic  petition  rejected — 
John  Keogh  and  the  policy  of  "  dignified  silence" — O'Con- 
nell ousts  Keogh  from  the  leadership  of  the  Catholics — Grat- 
tan's  mistake — Origin  of  the  veto  controversy — Agitation  in 
Dublin  against  the  Union — Causes  of  the  same — O'Connell 
advocates  the  repeal  of  the  Union — Collapse  of  the  Agitation 
— Catholic  Committee  and  the  Convention  Act — O'Connell's 
proposals  for  evading  the  Act — Government  interferes — 
The  Committee  scores  a  victory — O'Connell's  activity — 
Catholic  Committee  reconstituted — Trial  and  acquittal  of 
Dr.  Sheridan  —  Catholic  Committee  dispersed  —  Catholic 
Board  established. 

V 


vi  Contents. 

CHAPTER  III. 

PAGB 

PARLIAMENT    AND    THE     CATHOLIC    CLAIMS     (l8l2- 

1813) 42 

Assassination  of  Perceval — Catholic  hopes  disappointed — 
"  Witchery  resolutions" — House  of  Commons  pledges  itself 
to  revise  the  penal  laws — O'Connell  preaches  perseverance 
— "  A  nation  of  slaves  " — General  election — Catholic  indif- 
ference— Apprehensions  of  the  Protestants — House  of  Com- 
mons reaffirms  its  resolution — Catholic  Bill  introduced — 
The  "  Canning  clauses  " — Denounced  by  O'Connell  and 
the  Catholic  bishops  —  Bill  withdrawn  —  Schism  in  the 
Board — Indignation  against  O'Connell — His  remarkable 
speech. 

CHAPTER  rV. 

IN   DEFENCE  OF   THE  LIBERTY  OF   THE  PRESS  (1813)  .      59 

The  Irish  Catholic  Press — A  libel  action — Prosecution  of 
John  Magee — The  Attorney-General,  William  Saurin — 
O'Connell  defends  Magee  —  His  speech  —  Extraordinary 
sensation  produced  by  it — A  verdict  of  guilty — A  scene  in 
Court — Magee  disowns  O'Connell — ^Judgment — O'Connell's 
distress — Public  testimonial  to  him. 

CHAPTER  V. 

DUELS  AND  DISAPPOINTMENTS  (1814-1820)         .  .      81 

Quarantotti's  rescript — O'Connell  denies  the  temporal  au- 
thority of  the  Pope — The  Securities — Refusal  of  Grattan 
to  advocate  unqualified  emancipation — Catholic  Board  sup- 
pressed —  D'Esterre  challenges  O'Connell  —  D'Esterre's 
death — O'Connell's  remorse — His  vow — "  Affair  of  honour  " 
with  Peel — O'Connell  apologises — General  despondency — 
A  Catholic  Association  started — "Humble  remonstrance" 
to  the  Pope — Famine  and  pestilence — Question  of  parlia- 
mentary reform — Grattan  advocates  the  Catholic  claims  for 
the  last  time — His  death. 


Contents.  vli 

CHAPTER  VI. 


PAGE 


THE  king's  visit  (183I-1822)  ....    I07 

Difficulty  of  finding  a  successor  to  Grattan — A  lost  session 

—  O'Connell  on  parliamentary  reform  —  Controversy  with 
Sheil — House  of  Commons  agrees  to  consider  the  Catholic 
claims — Plunket's  bills  —  Denounced  by  O'Connell  —  Re- 
jected by  the  Lords — George  IV.  visits  Ireland — Universal 
joy — Magnificent  reception — Disappointment — Viceroyalty 
of  the  Marquis  of  Wellesley — A  "sandwich"  system — Saurin 
removed — Question  of  ' '  Domestic  nomination  " — Recrudes- 
cence of  agrarian  crime — O'Connell's  letters  to  the  Marquis 
of  Wellesley — The  Viceroy  insulted — "  Bottle  and  Battle  " 
— O'Connell  preaches  toleration — A  society  for  the  protec- 
tion of  Catholic  life  and  property. 

CHAPTER  VII. 

FOUNDATION  OF    THE  CATHOLIC  ASSOCIATION   1823- 

1824) 130 

Meeting  in  O'Dempsey's  tavern — The  necessity  of  an  asso- 
ciation for  the  protection  of  Catholic  life  and  property — 
Catholic  Association  founded  —  Its  small  beginnings  — 
Danger  of  a  collapse — Proposals  for  extending  its  influence 

—  Money  wanted  —  O'Connell's  penny-a-month  plan  for 
liberating  Ireland  —  The  heart  of  the  nation  touched  — 
Catholic  Association  organised — Effect  on  the  country. 

CHAPTER  VIII. 

THE  ATTACK  ON  THE  CATHOLIC  ASSOCIATION  (1824- 

1825) 144 

Rapid  progress  of  the  Association — Government  becomes 
alarmed — O'Connell  and  Sir  Harcourt  Lees  prosecuted  for 
seditious  language — Failure  of  the  prosecution — O'Connell 
disclaims  physical  force — Government  resolves  to  suppress 
the  Association — A  deputation  to  Parliament — Association 
suppressed — House  of  Commons  resolves  to  consider  the 
Catholic  claims — Parliamentary  committees  to  inquire  into 


viii  Contents. 

PAGB 

the  state  of  Ireland — O'Connell  examined — "  Feasted  and 
flattered  " — Assists  in  drafting  a  Catholic  Relief  Bill — The 
*'  Wings  " — *'  Honest  Jack  Lawless  " — Bill  rejected  by  the 
Lords — O'Connell  returns  to  Ireland — Catholic  Association 
reorganised. 

CHAPTER  IX. 

THE  AWAKENING  OF  THE  NATION  (1825-1828)  .  164 
O'Connell's  popularity  —  He  inherits  Darrynane  —  Re- 
nounces the  Wings'  policy — Controversy  with  Dr.  Doyle — 
General  Election — Contest  in  County  W^aterford — Revolt  of 
the  forty-shilling  freeholders — Defeat  of  the  Beresfords — 
Retaliatory  measures — Order  of  Liberators  established — 
Effect  on  the  Catholic  peasantry — House  of  Commons  re- 
jects the  Catholic  claims — O'Connell  broaches  the  Repeal 
of  the  Union — Canning  becomes  Prime  Minister — O'Connell 
demands  "  a  change  of  system  " — Death  of  Canning — Ad- 
ministration of  the  Duke  of  Wellington — A  million  and  a 
half  of  petitioners — Extension  of  the  Catholic  Association- 
Brunswick  clubs  started. 

CHAPTER  X. 

EMANCIPATION  (1828-1829) 197 

A  by-election  in  County  Clare — The  Association  determines 
to  contest  the  constituency — Difficulty  of  finding  a  candi- 
date— O'Connell  persuaded  to  stand — Publishes  his  address 
to  the  electors — Intense  excitement — Scenes  at  Ennis — 
O'Connell's  victory — Attempt  to  extend  the  Catholic  propa- 
ganda into  Ulster — Failure  of  the  experiment — Critical 
state  of  affairs — Anglesey  advises  concession — Ministerial 
difficulties — Anglesey  recalled  —  Catholic  Association  dis- 
solved— Parliament  concedes  Catholic  Emancipation — Situ- 
ation reviewed — National  testimonial  to  O'Connell — He 
declines  to  take  the  oath — A  new  writ  issued — O'Connell 
re-elected  M.P.  for  County  Clare — Emancipation  deprived 
of  its  natural  effect — Doneraile  ' '  conspiracy  "  and  trial — 
O'Connell  appeals  for  Protestant  co-operation. 


Contents.  ix 

CHAPTER  XI. 

^a»»—  PAGE 

J/PARLIAMENTARY  REFORM  AND  TITHES  (1830-1832)  ,    238 

O'Connell  takes  his  seat  in  the  House  of  Commons — Starts 
a  Society  for  promoting  the  repeal  of  the  Union — Society 
suppressed — Advises  a  run  on  the  Bank  of  Ireland — Cen- 
sured in  Parliament — Death  of  George  IV. — General  elec- 
tion— O'Connell  returned  for  County  Waterford — Letters 
to  the  Irish  People — Repeal  movement  spreads — O'Con- 
nell's  activity — Repeal  breakfasts — Marquis  of  Anglesey 
determines  to  suppress  the  agitation — O'Connell  arrested — 
Manifestations  of  a  dangerous  feeling  in  the  metropolis — 
Collapse  of  the  prosecution — Reform  an  indispensable  step 
toward  Repeal — The  tithe  question — Dr.  Doyle  advocates 
a  poor-law  for  Ireland — "Massacre  "at  Newtownbarry — 
Dr.  Doyle  on  the  situation — Attempt  to  "  quieten  "  O'Con- 
nell— Promise  of  a  "change  of  system" — Ireland  sinking 
into  decrepitude — O'Connell  abandons  poor-law  relief  as  a 
panacea  for  Irish  grievances. 

CHAPTER  XII. 

WHIGS   AND    COERCION    (1832-1835)  .  .  .    266 

Abolition  of  tithes  demanded — General  election — Repeal 
victories — O'Connell  returned  for  Dublin — Agrarian  out- 
rages— O'Connell  advises  exceptional  measures  for  their 
repression — Meeting  of  the  first  reformed  Parliament — A 
"  brutal  and  bloody  "  speech — Coercion — O'Connell  pleads 
for  a  full  inquiry — His  indifference  to  personal  attacks — 
Offers  to  submit  to  banishment — Coercion  Act  passed — A 
policy  of  "kicks  and  kindness" — Situation  improves — 
Whigs  to  be  maintained  in  office — O'Connell's  policy  disap- 
proved of  in  Ireland — His  hand  forced  by  Feargus  O'Con- 
nor— Despondency — Moves  the  repeal  of  the  Union — Good 
results  of  the  debate — Agitation  suspended — O'Connell 
deceived — Reconstruction  of  administration  under  Lord 
Melbourne — General  election. 


X  Contents. 

CHAPTER  XIII. 

PAGB 

IRELAND   UNDER   THOMAS   DRUMMOND  (1835-1840)  .    296 

Alliance  with  the  \NTiigs  —  Lichfield  House  Compact  — 
O'Connell  declines  office — Thomas  Drummond — Conspiracy 
to  drive  O'Connell  out  of  public  life — A  costly  election  pe- 
tition— Challenged  by  Alvanley  and  Disraeli — The  Raphael 
calumny — Attacked  by  the  Times — Expulsion  from  Brooks's 
demanded — Death  of  Mrs.  O'Connell — Whig  legislation — 
Accession  of  Queen  Victoria — The  Spottiswoode  "  con- 
spiracy " — O'Connell  reprimanded  by  the  Speaker — Refuses 
to  retract — Loss  of  popularity — Declines  the  Mastership  of 
the  Rolls — Retires  to  Mount  Melleray — Failure  of  the 
"  Precursor  "  experiment — Mental  depression — No  hope  for 
Ireland  but  Repeal. 

CHAPTER  XIV. 


4    REPEAL   AGITATION   (1840-1843)       ....    32O 

Repeal  Association  founded — Slow  prt^ress — Circle  of 
agitation  widens — O'Connell  hopeful — Repeal  meetings — 
General  apathy — The  Association  at  work — "  Keep  mov- 
ing " — "  O'Connell's  insult  to  the  North  " — Is  elected  Lord 
Mayor  of  Dublin — His  conduct  as  Mayor — Preparations 
for  "  getting  up  steam" — Repeal  Inspectors  appointed — 
Repeal  debate  in  the  Dublin  Corporation — Extraordinary 
effect  —  Rapid  development  of  the  agitation  —  Father 
Mathew  and  the  Temperance  movement — The  "Young 
Ireland  "  party — "  Monster  "  meetings — O'Connell's  perse- 
verance rewarded — Government  meditates  an  attack — Meet- 
ing at  Tara — Its  lesson. 

'  CHAPTER  XV. 

COLLAPSE  OF  THE  REPEAL  AGITATION  (1843-1847)    .    35  I 

Meeting  at  Clontarf  proclaimed — O'Connell's  moral  courage 
— He  and  his  associates  arrested — Trial  and  conviction — 
O'Connell  commands  obedience  to  the  law — Judgment — 


Contents.  xi 


"  In  jail  for  Ireland  " — ^Judgment  reversed  by  the  Lords — 
Federalism  versus  Repeal — O'Connell's  views  on  the  sub- 
ject— Denounced  by  the  Young  Ireland  party — The  Devon 
Commission — Attacked  by  the  Times — The  Great  Famine 
— Coercion  no  remedy — Fresh  alliance  with  the  Whigs — 
Rupture  between  O'Connell  and  the  Young  Ireland  party — 
A  last  plea  for  Ireland — Death — Concluding  remarks. 


NOTE   TO    LIST    OF   ILLUSTRATIONS. 

The  plates  facing  pages  2,  14,  24,  64,  78,  90,  116,  166,  206,  224,  308, 
324,  340,  376  are  from  photographs  by  Wm.  Lawrence,  Sackville 
Street,  Dublin. 

The  caricatures,  "Extraordinary  Animal,"  page  268,  "Two  Great 
Chieftains,"  page  352,  and  "  The  Naughty  Boy,"  page  366,  are 
from  "  H.  B."  Political  Sketches. 

The  description  of  the  tailpiece  on  page  163  should  read,  "  Medal 
struck  for  O'Connell  by  Mossop." 


ILLUSTRATIONS. 


Frontispiece 


(old    parliament 


DANIEL   O  CONNELL 

[From  the  painting  by  David  Wilkie.] 

o'connell  arms  . 
carhen,  cahirciveen  . 
court  house,  tralee 
bank  of  ireland,  dublin 

house)  . 
henry  grattan  . 

[From   an   engraving    by   Godley   in    the    British 
Museum.] 

DANIEL    o'CONNELL,     M.P.  ..... 

[From  a  painting  by  Bernard  Mulrenin,  R.H.A., 
in  the  National  Portrait  Gallery.] 

SIR    ROBERT    PEEL  ....... 

[From  a  painting  by  John  Linnell,  in  the  National 
Portrait  Gallery.] 

FOUR   COURTS,   DUBLIN   . 
KILMAINHAM    JAIL 

LISMORE    CASTLE,  COUNTY    WATERFORD 
RICHARD    LALOR    SHEIL 
LORD    PLUNKET        .... 

xiii 


IV 
2 

14 

24 
28 

36 

54 

64 

78 

90 

96 

108 


xiv  Illustrations. 


PACK 

GEORGE   IV 112 

[From    a    painting    by    Sir   Thomas    Lawrence, 
P.R.A.,  in  the  National  Portrait  Gallery.] 

king's   bridge,    DUBLIN Il6 

SACKVILLE   STREET,  DUBLIN I30 

[From  Bartlett's  Ireland.'] 

BISHOP   DOYLE I42 

[From  a  print  in  the  British  Museum.] 

OLD  HOUSE  OF   PARLIAMENT,  WESTMINSTER       .  •       154 

[From  a  collection  of  London  engravings  in  the 
Library  of  British  Museum.] 

BfEDAL   STRUCK   FOR   O'CONNELL   BY    MONOP   .  .       163 

DARRYNANE   HOUSE,    COUNTY    KERRY       .  .  .166 

O'CONNELL,     FITZPATRICK,    AND    CONWAY    IN     THE 

OFFICE  OF  THE  Evening  Post  .     200 

[From  the  painting  by  Haverty  in  the  National 
Portrait  Gallery,  Dublin.] 

TREATY   STONE,    LIMERICK 2o6 

STATUE   OF   O'CONNELL,    CITY    HALL,    DUBLIN  .       224 

EXTRAORDINARY    ANIMAL 268 

[From  a  print  in  the  British  Museum.] 

THOMAS   DRUMMOND         300 

[From  a  print  in  the  British  Museum.] 

DARRYNANE   ABBEY,  COUNTY    KERRY        .  .  308 

UPPER   LAKE,  KILLARNEY 324 

MANSION    HOUSE,    DUBLIN 334 

FATHER   MATHEW 34O 

THOMAS   DAVIS 342 

[From  Duffy's  Li/e  of  Thomas  Davis.] 

TARA    HILL 350 

[From  Petrie's  Antiquities  of  Tara  Hill.] 


Illustrations. 


XV 


TWO    GREAT    CHIEFTAINS 

[From  a  print  in  the  British  Museum.] 

THE   NAUGHTY   BOY  .... 

[From  a  print  in  the  British  Museum.] 

DANIEL    O'CONNELL  .... 

[From  the  painting  by  T.  Carrick.] 

o'CONNELL    MONUMENT,  GLASNEVIN 


366 
376 


DANIEL  O'CONNELL 


CHAPTER  I. 

EARLY  LIFE  AND  MARRIAGE. 
1 775- 1 802. 

REVOLUTION  has  succeeded  revolution  in 
Ireland  and  one  set  of  proprietors  another. 
But  despite  the  frequent  changes  through 
which  the  country  has  passed — the  plantations,  trans- 
plantations and  worst  of  all  the  confiscations  under 
the  penal  code — the  O'Connells  have  never  entirely 
lost  foothold  in  that  wild  and  mountainous  strip  of 
land  that  stretches  out  storm-lashed  into  the  Atlantic 
between  Dingle  Bay  and  the  river  of  Kenmare,  of 
which  they  were  at  one  time  the  lords  and  masters. 
"  We  have  peace  in  these  glens,"  said  old  Maurice 
O'Connell  to  Charles  Smith,  the  antiquarian,  when 
he  was  soliciting  information  for  his  history  of  Kerry, 

"  and  amid  this  seclusion  enjoy  a  respite  from  persecu- 
tion, where  we  can  still  profess  the  beloved  faith  of  our 


2  Daniel  O'Connell.  [1775- 

fathers.  But  if  you  make  mention  of  me  and  mine, 
these  seaside  solitudes  will  no  longer  yield  us  an  asylum. 
The  Sassanagh  will  scale  the  mountains  of  Darrynane 
and  we  too  shall  be  driven  out  upon  the  world  without 
a  home." 

But  the  O'Connells  were  a  shrewd  race  withal,  know- 
ing when  to  bend  to  the  inevitable,  when  also  to 
turn  their  opportunities  to  best  advantage ;  and  per- 
haps they  owed  their  immunity  from  invasion  as 
much  to  their  political  insignificance  and  the  prudent 
alliances  they  contracted  with  their  English  neigh- 
bours as  to  the  solitariness  of  their  glens. 

Carhen  House,  the  birthplace  of  the  Liberator, 
has  long  ago  disappeared,  and  the  little  village  of 
Cahirciveen,  which  now  the  railway  renders  easily 
accessible,  has  since  acquired  a  new  importance 
from  its  proximity  to  the  cable-station  on  Valentia 
Island.  But  the  sea  with  all  its  changing  moods  of 
calm  and  storm,  of  ebb  and  flow,  and  the  mountains 
on  which  the  mists  gather  or  which  wind-cleared 
reflect  in  purple  radiance  the  glory  of  the  western 
sun  abide  the  same.  In  all  essential  features  the 
place  remains  unchanged  from  the  day  when  as  a 
boy  O'Connell  paddled  on  the  silvery  sands  of  Darry- 
nane Bay,  or  as  a  busy  barrister  snatching  a  brief 
holiday  from  his  professional  duties  hunted  the  hare 
on  foot  and  made  the  hills  resound  with  shout  and 
laughter,  or  as  a  wearied  politician,  seeking  rest  and 
health  amid  his  native  vales,  watched  with  saddened 
eyes  the  waves  as  they  curled  and  broke  on  that 
rock-bound  coast.  The  wild  beauty  of  the  place 
early  impressed  itself  on  O'Connell's  sensitive  nature, 


iMvex^'imS'ixaiimi^ 


1802]  Early  Life  and  Marriage.  3 

and  recollections  of  his  mountain  home  added  an 
intensity  to  his  love  of  his  native  land,  which  neither 
time  nor  the  excitement  of  a  public  life  ever  dulled. 
Quoting  Landor's  lines  from  Gebir  on  the  sea-shell — 

"  Shake  one,  and  it  awakens  :  then  apply 
Its  polisht  lips  to  your  attentive  ear, 
And  it  remembers  its  august  abodes, 

And  murmurs  as  the  ocean  murmurs  there." 

he  wrote  to  the  poet  in  1838  : 

"  Would  that  I  had  you  here,  to  show  you  '  their  august 
abode '  in  its  most  awful  beauty.  I  could  show  you  at 
noontide — when  the  stern  south-western  had  blown  long 
and  rudely — the  mountain  waves  coming  in  from  the 
illimitable  ocean  in  majestic  succession,  expanding  their 
gigantic  force,  and  throwing  up  stupendous  masses  of 
foam,  against  the  more  gigantic  and  more  stupendous 
mountain  cliffs  that  fence  not  only  this  my  native  spot, 
but  form  that  eternal  barrier  which  prevents  the  wild 
Atlantic  from  submerging  the  cultivated  plains  and  high 
steepled  villages  of  proud  Britain  herself.  Or,  were  you 
with  me  amidst  the  Alpine  scenery  that  surrounds  my 
humble  abode,  listening  to  the  eternal  roar  of  the  mount- 
ain torrent,  as  it  bounds  through  the  rocky  defiles  of 
my  native  glens,  I  would  venture  to  tell  you  how  I  was 
born  within  the  sound  of  the  everlasting  wave,  and  how 
my  dreamy  boyhood  dwelt  upon  imaginary  intercourse 
with  those  who  are  dead  of  yore,  and  fed  its  fond  fancies 
upon  the  ancient  and  long-faded  glories  of  that  land 
which  preserved  literature  and  Christianity  when  the 
rest  of  now  civilised  Europe  was  shrouded  in  the  dark- 
ness of  godless  ignorance.  Yes  !  my  expanding  spirit, 
delighted  in  these  day  dreams,  till  catching  from  them 


4  Daniel  O'Conneil  [1775- 

an  enthusiasm  which  no  disappointment  can  embitter, 
nor  accumulating  years  diminish,  I  formed  the  high 
resolve  to  leave  my  native  land  better  after  my  death 
than  I  found  her  at  my  birth,  and,  if  possible,  to  make 
her  what  she  ought  to  be — 

*  Great,  glorious  and  free. 
First  flower  of  the  earth,  and  first  gem  of  the  sea.' 

"  Perhaps,  if  I  could  show  you  the  calm  and  exquisite 
beauty  of  these  capacious  bays  and  mountain  promon- 
tories softened  in  the  pale  moonlight  which  shines  this 
lovely  evening,  till  all  which  during  the  day  was  grand 
and  terrific  has  become  calm  and  serene  in  the  silent 
tranquillity  of  the  clear  night — perhaps  you  would  readily 
admit  that  the  man  who  has  been  so  often  called  a 
ferocious  demagogue,  is,  in  truth,  a  gentle  lover  of 
Nature,  an  enthusiast  of  all  her  beauties — 

'  Fond  of  each  gentle  and  each  dreary  scene,' 
and  catching  from  the  loveliness  as  well  as  the  dreariness 
of  the  ocean,  and  Alpine  scenes  with  which  he  is  sur- 
rounded, a  greater  ardour  to  promote  the  good  of  man, 
in  his  overwhelming  admiration  of  the  mighty  works 
of  God." 

The  eldest  son  of  Morgan  O'Connell  and  Cather- 
ine, daughter  of  John  O'Mullane  of  Whitechurch, 
county  Cork,  Daniel  O'Connell  was  born  at  Carhen 
House  on  6th  August,  1775  ;  being,  with  the  excep- 
tion of  his  uncle.  Count  Daniel  O'Connell.  the  first 
of  his  house  destined  to  make  a  name  for  himself  in 
history  and  to  extend  the  reputation  of  a  hitherto 
undistinguished  and  insignificant  Irish  clan  into  the 
farthest  corners  of  the  earth.  His  birth  coincided 
almost  with  the  declaration  of  American  independ- 


1802]  Early  Life  and  Marriage.  5 

ence  and  with  the  first  relaxation  of  those  penal 
laws,  through  the  operation  of  which,  extended 
over  three-quarters  of  a  century,  the  Irish  Roman 
Catholics,  and  in  them  the  bulk  of  the  nation,  had 
been  reduced  to  a  state  of  physical,  political,  and 
moral  serfdom  almost  without  parallel  in  Europe. 
This  first  act  of  justice  towards  their  own  country- 
men had  been  followed  by  a  determined  effort  on 
the  part  of  the  Irish  Protestants — the  descendants 
of  successive  generations  of  English  settlers — to  reas- 
sert the  legislative  independence  of  their  own  parlia- 
ment and  rebut  the  claim  of  the  British  legislature  to 
enact  laws  binding  on  Ireland.  O'Connell  was  too 
young  to  remember  the  great  volunteer  movement 
and  the  intense  wave  of  patriotism  that  passed  over 
the  country,  reaching  even  to  the  Catholics,  whose 
sympathy,  if  obliged  to  restrict  itself  to  their  purses, 
was  on  that  account  none  the  less  sincere  or  efficient. 
When  Grattan  won  his  memorable  but  fruitless 
victory  O'Connell  was  barely  seven  years  old,  and  it 
is  small  wonder  if  in  recalling  his  earliest  impress- 
ions the  statesman's  figure  should  have  loomed  less 
largely  in  his  imagination  than  that  of  the  redoubt- 
able buccaneer,  Paul  Jones,  whose  appearance  off 
the  coast  of  Kerry  struck  terror  into  the  peasants  of 
the  district. 

Like  many  great  men  O'Connell  loved  to  attribute 
his  success  in  life  to  the  influence  of  his  mother,  and 
it  was  indeed  to  her — a  pious,  sensible,  and  affection- 
ate woman  as  she  seems  to  have  been — and  to  David 
Mahony,  an  old  hedge-schoolmaster — one  of  those 
curious  products  of  the  penal  code,  whose  avocation 


6  Daniel  O' Connell.  (1775- 

it  was,  seated  behind  some  dyke  or  hedge  out  of  the 
way  of  informers,  to  teach  his  pupils  "  feloniously  to 
learn " — that  he  owed  the  first  rudiments  of  his 
education.  At  an  early  age,  however,  he  had  the 
^ood  fortune  to  be  adopted  by  his  uncle,  Maurice  of 
Darrynane,  the  head  of  the  family,  a  childless  and 
somewhat  eccentric,  but  withal  prudent  old  gentle- 
man, familiarly  known  in  the  neighbourhood  as 
"  Old  Hunting  Cap  "  ;  and  it  was  at  Darrynane  that 
the  happiest  days  of  his  childhood  were  passed.  Of 
books  he  had  small  store.  His  favourite  was  Captain 
Cook's  Voyages  ("  the  first  big  book  I  ever  read  and  I 
read  it  with  intense  avidity  ")  ;  but  it  was  in  ballads 
that  he  chiefly  delighted,  and  no  time  could  ever 
efface  the  impression  or  even  entirely  the  words  of  a 
ballad  he  once  heard  sung  by  a  man  and  woman  in 
the  streets  of  Tralee  when  he  was  only  twelve  years 
old— 

"  I  leaned  my  back  against  an  oak, 
I  thought  it  was  a  trusty  tree, 
But  first  it  bent ;    and  then  it  broke — 
'  Twas  thus  my  love  deserted  me  !  " 
Diffidence  was  never,  perhaps,  one  of  O'Connell's 
weak  points,  but  it  may  be  suspected  that  the  preco- 
cious announcement  of  his  intention  to  rival  Flood 
and  Grattan  in  "  making  a  stir  in  the  world  also,"  dur- 
ing a  discussion  at  his  uncle's  table  on  the  relative 
merits  of  those  two  orators,  owes  its  point  to  the  par- 
donable  exaggeration    of    a    friendly   afterthought. 
Anyhow  his  career  at  Father  Harrington's  school  at 
Cove,  now  Queenstown  (said  to  have  been  the  first 
school  opened  in  Ireland  by  a  Catholic  priest,  subse- 


1802]  Early  Life  and  Marriage.  7 

quent  to  the  relaxation  of  the  penal  laws),  whither  he 
was  sent  at  the  age  of  thirteen,  hardly  leads  us  to  sup- 
pose that  the  natural  exuberance  of  his  boyhood  was 
greatly  damped  by  the  thought  of  any  such  high  re- 
solve, and  for  himself  he  seems  to  have  been  quite 
satisfied  with  having  achieved  the  unique  distinction 
of  being  the  only  boy  in  the  school  who  had  never 
been  flogged.  "  This,"  he  used  to  say,  "  I  owed 
to  my  attention." 

As  a  Roman  Catholic,  Trinity  College  was,  of 
course,  closed  to  him,  but  thanks  to  the  liberality 
of  his  uncle,  "  Old  Hunting  Cap,"  after  spending 
three  years  at  Harrington's  school,  he  and  his 
younger  brother,  Maurice,  were,  as  had  long  been 
the  custom  among  the  wealthier  Catholics,  sent  to 
complete  their  education  abroad.  Proving,  how- 
ever, too  old  for  admission  into  the  school  of  Liege 
— their  original  destination — they  entered  the  Eng- 
lish College  of  St.  Omer  in  January,  1791.  Here 
they  remained  for  some  eighteen  months,  and  in  an 
old  writing  desk,  which  still  occupies  its  original 
niche  at  Darrynane,  may  yet  be  found  a  number  of 
letters  from  the  two  boys  to  their  uncle  :  not  very 
clever  nor  very  amusing — those  of  Daniel,  at  any 
rate,  relating  for  the  most  part  to  his  studies,  and 
practical  details  of  expenses  incurred — but  full  of 
gratitude,  and  inquisitive  of  news  from  home.  From 
the  Principal  of  the  College,  however.  Dr.  Gregory 
Stapleton,  old  Maurice  had  the  satisfaction  of  learn- 
ing that  his  nephews  were  doing  well ;  and  if  the 
younger  was  hardly  as  industrious  as  he  might  have 
been,  Daniel  at  any  rate  was  destined   to   make  a 


8  Daniel  O'Comiell. 


(1775- 


remarkable  figure  in  society.  In  August,  1792,  the 
brothers  were  transferred  to  the  college  at  Douay, 
where  for  a  pension  of  twenty-five  guineas  a  year 
"  we  get  very  small  portions  at  dinner  ;  most  of  the 
lads  getting  what  they  call  seconds,  that  is,  a  second 
portion  every  day,  and  for  them  they  pay  £2,  or  £/\. 
a  year  extraordinary.  We  would  be  much  obliged 
to  you  for  leave  to  get  them,  but  this  as  you  please." 
Notwithstanding  this  and  other  drawbacks,  such  as 
having  to  pay  for  their  own  washing,  Douay  was 
"in  every  respect,"  Daniel  thought,  better  than  St. 
Omer.  But  the  lessons  in  philosophy,  from  which 
he  had  expected  to  derive  so  much  profit,  were 
shortly  interrupted  by  the  progress  of  the  French 
Revolution,  and  in  obedience  to  his  uncle's  orders 
he  and  Maurice  quitted  Douay  in  January  of  the 
following  year.  Forced  for  safety's  sake  to  wear 
the  tricolour  cockade,  but  loathing  himself  for  so 
doing,  Daniel  no  sooner  found  himself  on  board  the 
Dover  packet  than  he  tore  it  from  his  hat  and  flung 
it  into  the  sea.  How  intense,  then,  must  have  been 
his  disgust  to  hear  one  of  his  fellow-passengers,  a 
countryman  of  his  own  to  boot,  one  John  Sheares 
by  name,  destined  himself  a  few  years  later  to  a 
traitor's  death  for  his  share  in  the  Rebellion  of  '98, 
gloating  over  the  details  of  the  execution,  which  he 
had  witnessed,  of  the  unfortunate  Louis  XVI !  For 
such  brutalities  O'Connell  had  no  taste.  His  per- 
sonal experience  of  the  conduct  of  the  revolution- 
ists, especially  towards  the  religious  orders,  always 
coloured  his  estimate  of  the  French  Revolution,  and 
it  is  small  wonder  that,  on  returjiing  to  England,  he 


1802 J  Early  Life  and  Marriage.  9 

should  have  declared  himself  to  be  at  heart  almost 
a  Tory.  Referring  to  the  subject  in  maturer  years 
he  said  :  "  The  French  Revolution  produced  some 
good,  but  it  was  not  without  alloy :  it  was  mingled 
with  much  impiety.  Liberty  and  religion  were  first 
separated.  The  experiment  was  a  bad  one.  It  had 
much  of  French  levity  in  it,  and  a  deal  of  what  was 
much  worse." 

In  the  hurry  of  the  flight  from  Douay  O'Connell 
had  left  nearly  all  his  wearing  apparel  behind  him, 
and  his  first  business  on  reaching  London  was  to 
replenish  his  wardrobe.  This  done  he  went  to  board 
for  a  time  with  a  Mr.  Fagan,  a  relative  apparently 
of  the  family,  who  earned  a  scanty  livelihood  by 
keeping  a  small  private  school  in  or  near  London. 
From  him  he  acquired  the  elements  of  logic  ;  but  the 
expenses  of  his  establishment  proving  too  great  for 
Mr.  Fagan's  straitened  resources,  owing  to  the  war  and 
consequent  rise  in  prices,  O'Connell  was  before  long 
compelled  to  shift  his  quarters.  After  keeping  one 
term  at  Gray's  Inn  he  was  on  30th  January,  1794,  ad- 
mitted a  student  of  Lincoln's,  and  took  lodgings 
with  a  Mr.  Tracy  in  a  court  off  Coventry  Street. 
Many  years  afterwards,  happening  to  be  pointing 
out  the  place  to  his  friend,  O'Neil  Daunt,  his  atten- 
tion was  attracted  to  a  fishmonger's  shop.  "  That 
shop,"  said  he,  "  is  in  precisely  the  same*"  state  in 
which  I  remember  it  when  I  was  at  Gray's  Inn, 
nearly  fifty  years  ago — the  same  sized  windows,  the 
same  frontage,  and  I  believe  the  same  fish  !  "  Sub- 
sequently for  the  sake  of  greater  quietness  and  the 
facilities  it  afforded  him  for  boating  he  removed  out 


lo  Daniel  O'Connell. 


11775- 


to  Chiswick,  where  he  made  the  acquaintance,  which 
ripened  into  a  life-long  friendship,  of  a  young  Irish- 
man of  good  family  connections  and  fortune,  Richard 
Newton  Bennett,  who  afterwards  became  a  colonial 
chief-justice. 

In  the  summer  of  1795  he  paid  a  visit  to  Ireland. 
"  I  remember,"  he  said,  contrasting  the  rapid  modes 
of  travelling  in  his  later  years  with  the  slow  and  in- 
convenient methods  of  his  youth, — 

"  I  remember  when  I  left  Darrynanefor  London  in  1795, 
my  first  day's  journey  was  to  Carhen,  my  second  to  Kil- 
lorglin,  my  third  to  Tralee,  my  fourth  to  Limerick,  two 
days  thence  to  Dublin.  I  sailed  from  Dublin  in  the 
evening ;  my  passage  to  Holyhead  was  performed  in 
twenty-four  hours  ;  from  Holyhead  to  Chester  took  six 
and  thirty  hours  ;  from  Chester  to  London  three  days." 

Meantime  he  studied  diligently,  his  reading,  outside 
the  usual  law-books — Espinasse's  Nisi  Prius,  Black- 
stone's  Commentaries  and  Coke  On  Littleton — being 
confined  chiefly  to  the  Bible  and  Gibbon's  Decline 
and  Fall.  For  the  rest,  as  he  wrote  to  his  uncle,  he 
had 

"  Two  objects  to  pursue — the  one,  the  attainment  of 
knowledge  :  the  other,  the  acquisition  of  all  those  quali- 
ties which  constitute  the  polite  gentleman.  .  .  .  And 
as  for  the  motives  of  ambition  which  you  suggest,  I  as- 
sure you  that  no  man  can  possess  more  of  it  than  I  do. 
I  have,  indeed,  a  glowing  and — if  I  may  use  the  express- 
ion— an  enthusiastic  ambition,  which  converts  every 
toil  into  a  pleasure,  and  every  study  into  an  amusement. 
Though  nature  may  have  given  me  subordinate  talents, 


1802]  Early  Life  and  Marriage.  1 1 

I  never  will  be  satisfied  with  a  subordinate  situation  in 
my  profession.  No  man  is  able,  I  am  aware,  to  supply 
the  total  deficiency  of  abilities,  but  everybody  is  capable 
of  improving  and  enlarging  a  stock,  however  small,  and 
in  its  beginning  contemptible.  It  is  this  reflection  af- 
fords me  most  consolation.  If  I  do  not  rise  at  the  Bar, 
I  will  not  have  to  meet  the  reproaches  of  my  own 
conscience." 

In  November,  1796,  having  completed  his  terms,  he 
returned  to  Ireland,  and  pending  his  call  some  eigh- 
teen months  later  to  the  Bar,  went  into  lodgings  at 
14  Trinity  Place,  Dublin. 

It  was  a  critical  moment  in  the  history  of  his 
country;  for  the  recognition  of  the  legislative  inde- 
pendence of  the  Irish  parliament,  which  the  threat 
of  armed  resistance  had  extorted  from  England 
in  1782,  had  proved  a  delusive  victory,  and  what  the 
eloquence  of  Grattan,  backed  by  the  swords  of  the 
volunteers,  had  achieved  the  influence  of  bribery 
and  corruption  had  undone.  The  one  chance  of 
safety  that  had  offered  itself,  in  the  opportunity 
given  to  parliament  in  1784  to  consent  to  its  own 
reform  and  thus  to  render  itself  independent  of  ad- 
ministration, had  been  neglected,  and  after  fourteen 
years'  experiment  the  country  found  itself  more  at 
the  mercy  of  the  English  minister  than  it  had  been 
in  the  days  that  preceded  the  agitation  for  independ- 
ence. The  desperate  attempt  of  Earl  Fitzwilliam 
in  1795  to  give  effect  to  the  demands  of  the  patriotic 
party,  and  at  the  eleventh  hour,  as  it  were,  to  rescue 
the  constitution  from  the  parliament  that  was  be- 
traying it,  had  ended  in  failure,  and  with  the  arrival 


12  Daniel  O'Connell.  [1775- 

of  Earl  Camden  the  country  drifted  rapidly  in  the 
direction  of  rebellion. 

O'Connell's  return  to  Ireland  was  almost  coinci- 
dent with  the  arrival  of  Lord  Camden  and  the  de- 
parture of  Theobald  Wolfe  Tone  from  America  on 
his  mission  to  France.  But  in  political  questions  he 
had  at  this  time  only  the  faintest  interest.  It  is 
true  he  was  induced  by  his  friend  Bennett  to  enroll 
himself  as  a  United  Irishman  ;  but  the  insight  he 
thus  obtained  into  the  workings  of  the  conspiracy 
served  only  to  teach  him  "  to  have  no  secrets  in 
politics."  Of  the  leaders  of  the  movement  he  al- 
ways spoke  contemptuously  and  perhaps  a  little  un- 
justly. In  the  diary  which  he  kept  at  this  time  is 
the  following  significant  note  under  date,  29  Decem- 
ber, 1796 — 

"  The  French  Fleet  is  arrived  in  Bantry  Bay,  .  .  . 
The  Irish  are  not  yet  sufficiently  enlightened  to  bear  the 
sun  of  Freedom.  Freedom  would  soon  dwindle  into 
licentiousness :  they  would  rob,  they  would  murder. 
.  .  .  The  liberty  which  I  look  for  is  that  which  would 
increase  the  happiness  of  mankind." 

For  his  own  part,  having  at  the  time  no  other  ob- 
ject than  haply  to  become  a  great  and  successful 
lawyer,  he  occupied  himself  chiefly  in  preparing  for  his 
call  to  the  Bar,  which  took  place  on  19th  May,  1798, 
three  days  only  before  that  on  which  the  Rebellion 
broke  out.  He  had  recently  joined  the  Lawyers' 
Yeomanrj'  Corps  ;  but  thinking,  after  the  rising  took 
place,  that  it  would  be  prudent,  owing  to  his  connec- 
tion, albeit  of  the  slightest,  with  the  revolutionary 


1802]  Early  Life  and  Marriage.  13 

movement,  to  retire  from  Dublin  till  the  storm  had 
blown  over,  he  took  his  passage  in  a  potato-boat 
bound  for  Courtmacsherry,  and  after  a  capital  trip 
of  thirty-six  hours  found  himself  safely  ashore  at 
Cork.  In  Kerry  only  the  faintest  reverberations 
were  heard  of  the  storm  that  was  devastating  Wick- 
low  and  Wexford  and  spreading  consternation  to 
the  very  heart  of  Dublin,  and  for  O'Connell  the 
summer  would  have  passed  away  pleasantly  enough 
had  he  not,  in  his  enthusiasm  for  hare-hunting,  heed- 
lessly exposed  himself  for  several  hours  to  a  heavy, 
drenching  rain,  in  consequence  of  which  he  con- 
tracted a  violent  fever,  which  brought  him  almost 
to  death's  door. 

On  his  recovery,  he  joined  the  Munster  circuit  in 
the  following  year,  being  one  of  the  first  to  profit  by 
the  Relief  Act  of  1793  and  the  removal  of  the  dis- 
abilities placed  by  the  penal  laws  on  Catholics  prac- 
tising at  the  Bar.  Recalling  the  circumstances  for 
Daunt's  benefit,  he  said  : 

"  It  was  at  four  o'clock  on  a  fine  sunny  morning  that 
I  left  Carhen,  on  horseback.  My  brother  John  came 
part  of  the  way  with  me  ;  and  oh,  how  I  did  envy  him 
when  he  turned  off  the  road  to  hunt  among  the  mount- 
ains, whilst  /had  to  enter  on  the  drudgery  of  my  pro- 
fession. But  we  parted.  I  looked  after  him,  from  time 
to  time,  until  he  was  out  of  sight,  and  then  I  cheered  up 
my  spirits  as  well  as  I  could.  I  had  left  home  at  such  an 
early  hour  that  I  was  in  Tralee  at  half-past  twelve.  I 
got  my  horse  fed,  and  thinking  it  was  as  well  to  push  on, 
I  remounted  him,  and  took  the  road  to  Tarbert  by  Lis- 
towell.     A  few  miles  further  on,  a  shower  of  rain  drove 


14  Daniel  O'Connell.  [1775- 

me  under  a  bridge  for  shelter.  While  I  stayed  there,  the 
rain  sent  Robert  Hickson  also  under  the  bridge.  He 
saluted  me,  and  asked  me  where  I  was  going.  I  an- 
swered, *  To  Tarbert.'  '  Why  so  late  ? '  said  Hickson. 
*  I  am  not  late,'  said  I  ;  *  I  have  been  up  since  four 
o'clock  this  morning,'  'Why,  where  do  you  come 
from  ? '  '  From  Carhen.'  Hickson  looked  astonished, 
for  the  distance  was  nearly  fifty  Irish  miles.  But  he 
expressed  his  warm  approval  of  my  activity.  'You  '11 
do,  young  gentleman,'  said  he  ;  '  I  see  you  '11  do.'  I 
then  rode  on,  and  got  to  Tarbert  about  five  in  the  after- 
noon— fully  sixty  miles,  Irish,  from  Carhen.  There 
was  n't  one  book  to  be  had  at  the  inn — I  had  no  ac- 
quaintance in  the  town  ;  and  I  felt  my  spirits  low 
enough  at  the  prospect  of  a  long,  stupid  evening.  But 
I  was  relieved  by  the  sudden  appearance  of  Ralph  Mar- 
shall, an  old  friend  of  mine,  who  came  to  the  inn  lo 
dress  for  a  ball  that  took  place  in  Tarbert  that  night. 
He  asked  me  to  accompany  him  to  the  ball.  'Why,' 
said  I,  '  I  have  ridden  sixty  miles.'  '  Oh,  you  don't  seem 
in  the  least  tired,'  said  he,  '  so  come  along.'  Accord- 
ingly I  went,  and  sat  up  until  two  o'clock  in  the  morn- 
ing, dancing.  I  arose  next  day  at  half-past  eight,  and 
rode  to  the  Limerick  assizes.  At  the  Tralee  assizes  of 
the  same  circuit  James  Connor  gave  me  a  brief.  There 
was  one  of  the  witnesses  of  the  other  party  whose  cross- 
examination  was  thrown  upon  me  by  the  opposite  coun- 
sel, I  did  not  do  as  I  have  seen  fifty  young  counsels 
do  ;  namely,  hand  the  cross-examination  over  to  my 
senior.  I  thought  it  due  to  myself  to  attempt  it,  hit  or 
miss  !  and  I  cross-examined  him  right  well.  I  remember 
he  stated  that  he  had  his  share  of  a  pint  of  whiskey  ; 
whereupon  I  asked  him  whether  his  share  was  not  all 
except  the  pewter  f     He  confessed  that  it  was  ;  and  the 


1802]  Early  Life  and  Marriage.  15 

oddity  of  my  putting  the  question  was  very  successful,  and 
created  a  general  and  hearty  laugh.  Jerry  Keller  re- 
peated the  encouragement  Robert  Hickson  had  already 
bestowed  upon  my  activity,  in  the  very  same  words — 
*  You  '11  do,  young  gentleman,  you  '11  do.'  " 

Though  the  Relief  Act  of  1793  had  opened  the 
legal  profession  to  the  Roman  Catholics,  the  inner 
Bar,  with  its  emoluments  and  high  offices,  still  and 
for  some  time  even  after  emancipation  had  been  won 
continued  to  be  jealously  preserved  by  the  Protest- 
ant ascendancy  for  itself.  But  of  O'Connell's  suc- 
cess even  in  the  limited  sphere  permitted  him  there 
was  from  the  first  no  question.  His  fee-book,  still 
extant,  shows  an  income  of  ;^6o  for  the  first  year, 
rising  to  ;^420.i7.6  in  the  second,  to  ^^1077.4.3  in 
1806,  and  to  ^^3,808.7.0  in  1814.  In  1828  his  emol- 
uments exceeded  iJ'Sooo,  and  that  too  though  he 
lost  one  term. 

Nevertheless  it  is  hardly  to  be  wondered  at  if,  in 
the  consciousness  of  possessing  abilities  which  would 
have  raised  him  to  the  highest  position  in  his  pro- 
fession, he  should  sometimes  have  allowed  himself 
to  treat  the  occupants  of  the  judicial  bench  with  a 
degree  of  contempt  bordering  at  times  on  insolence. 
And  regrettable  though  these  outbursts  of  temper 
may  seem  to  us,  it  is  absurd  to  apologise  for  them 
as  inexcusable.  For,  with  a  Norbury,  who  com- 
bined the  ferocity  of  a  hangman  with  the  jocular- 
ity of  a  buffoon,  representing  the  majesty  and 
impartiality  of  the  law  ;  with  a  Saurin,  whose  atti- 
tude towards  the  Catholics  seemed  constantly  to  be 
coloured  by  a  vindictive  recollection  of  the  revocation 


1 6  Daniel  O'ConnelL  [1775- 

of  the  edict  of  Nantes,  as  attorney-general ;  and 
with  a  Bench  adorned  by  a  Day,  of  whom  Curran 
remarked  that  his  efforts  to  understand  a  point  of 
law  resembled  an  attempt  to  open  an  oyster  with  a 
rolling-pin  ;  by  a  Boyd,  whose  excessive  fondness 
for  brandy  led  to  his  invention  of  a  curiously-shaped 
ink-pot  out  of  which,  with  the  help  of  a  hollow  quill, 
he  contrived  to  slake  his  thirst  in  court  without 
greatly  compromising  his  dignity  ;  and  by  a  Lefroy, 
whose  misfortune  it  was  to  have  mistaken  the  bench 
for  a  Calvinistic  pulpit — with  such  examples  before 
him  worse  lapses  than  ever  he  was  guilty  of  might 
surely  have  been  deemed  pardonable. 

Besides,  it  must  not  be  forgotten  that  O'Connell, 
lawyer  though  he  was,  had  small  respect  for  the 
mummeries  of  the  law,  and  laughed  heartily  at  the 
legal  virtues  of  horse-hair  wigs.  Doubtless  the  laugh 
was  full  of  bitterness.  For  he  could  not  forget  that 
he  was  an  Irishman,  and  that  the  honours  open  to 
the  descendant  of  a  French  Huguenot  were  inacces- 
sible to  him — a  Catholic  and  a  native.  But  at  least 
his  countrymen  should  be  taught  by  his  example  to 
throw  off  their  old  habits  of  servility,  and  taking 
courage  from  him  learn  to  stand  erect  like  men. 
Nor  was  the  lesson  wholly  in  vain,  deeply  though 
the  iron  of  oppression  had  entered  into  their  souls, 
and  even  after  the  triumphs  of  the  courts  had  yielded 
to  those  greater  ones  of  the  House  of  Commons,  the 
title  of  Counsellor  ever  remained  his  favourite  appel- 
lation with  the  Irish  peasantry.  How  indeed  should 
it  have  been  otherwise?  Emancipation  and  Repeal — 
these  were  things  which  touched  his  imagination. 


1802]  Early  Life  and  Marriage.  17 

but  hardly  interested  the  Irish  peasant  in  a  prac- 
tical way.  It  was  different  when,  standing  in  the 
dock,  feeling  the  meshes  of  the  law  tightening 
around  him,  and  hope  itself  expiring  in  his  breast, 
to  see  the  Counsellor  enter  the  court  and  almost 
with  a  word  restore  him  to  liberty.  This  not  only 
touched  his  imagination  but  won  his  gratitude,  and 
whatever  the  Irish  peasant  is,  he  is  neither  dull  nor 
ungrateful. 

That  no  one  whose  legal  acquirements  were  not  of 
the  highest  order  could  ever  have  ventured  to  ad- 
dress the  bench  as  O'Connell  sometimes  did  may  be 
taken  for  granted.  Cleverness  and  self-conceit  are 
as  useful  qualities  in  a  lawyer  as  in  another;  but 
mere  cleverness  and  self-conceit  would  never  have 
raised  O'Connell  to  the  position  he  held  at  the  Bar 
or  have  enabled  him  to  hold  his  own  with  a  Norbury 
and  a  Johnson.  And  it  is  all  the  more  necessary  to 
insist  on  this  point  as  the  idea  is  not  yet  extinct  that 
O'Connell  was  more  demagogue  than  lawyer,  and 
that  he  owed  his  success  more  to  his  assurance  and 
rough  wit  than  to  any  solid  knowledge  of  law  he 
possessed.  It  is  true  that  in  the  serener  atmosphere 
of  modern  times  no  judge  would  tolerate  the  lan- 
guage in  which  O'Connell  occasionally  addressed  the 
court.  But  the  Ireland  of  to-day  is  not  the  Ireland 
of  the  beginning  of  the  century,  and  in  nothing  is 
the  change  more  perceptible  than  in  the  administra- 
tion of  justice.  The  spirit  of  intolerance  is  perhaps 
not  yet  quite  extinct ;  but  at  least  there  is  greater 
decorum,  and  such  an  anomaly  as  a  Norbury  or  a 
Saurin  is  happily  no  longer  possible. 


1 8  Daniel  O' Connell.  tl775- 

His  first  circuit  over,  O'Connell  returned  to  Dublin 
to  find  the  whole  town  in  a  state  of  intense  excite- 
ment in  regard  to  the  projected  legislative  union  be- 
tween Great  Britain  and  Ireland.  Like  his  brethren 
of  the  Bar  generally,  who  saw  in  the  measure  the 
probable  decadence  of  Dublin  and  the  consequent 
diminution  of  their  own  importance  and  fees,  he 
was  naturally  strongly  opposed  to  it  on  professional 
grounds.  But  as  the  agitation  grew,  his  opposition 
assumed  a  political  complexion.  On  13th  January, 
1800,  he  attended  a  meeting  in  the  Royal  Exchange, 
convened  by  a  number  of  influential  Roman  Catho- 
lics for  the  purpose  of  protesting  against  the  insinua- 
tion that  the  Union  was  favourably  regarded  by 
them.  Being  induced  to  speak,  he  opened  his  mind 
freely  on  the  subject.  It  was  the  first  time  he  had 
addressed  a  public  gathering ;  but  the  diffidence 
with  which  he  began  soon  wore  off  before  the  ap- 
proving cheers  of  his  audience.  Were  the  alterna- 
tive offered  him,  he  exclaimed,  of  union  or  the 
re-enactment  of  the  penal  code  in  all  its  rigour,  he 
would  without  hesitation  prefer  the  latter  as  the 
lesser  and  more  sufferable  evil,  trusting  to  the  justice 
of  his  brethren,  the  Protestants  of  Ireland,  who  had 
already  liberated  him  rather  than  lay  his  country  at 
the  feet  of  foreigners.__  To  this  opinion  he  continued 
faithful  through  life.  It  is  the  key-note  of  his  whole 
political  creed — union  amongst  Irishmen  of  every 
religious  and  political  persuasion  for  national  objects 
— an  Irishman  first  and  then  only  a  Roman  Catholic. 
"  It  is  a  curious  thing  enough,"  he  afterwards  re- 
marked to  O'Neil  Daunt,  "  that  all  the  principles  of 


1802]  Early  Life  and  Marriage.  19 

my  subsequent  political   life   are  contained  in  my 
very  first  speech." 

His  interference  in  politics,  however,  offended  his 
uncle,  who,  with  the  timidity  natural  to  one  who  had 
been  brought  up  under  the  demoralising  influence  of 
the  penal  laws,  was  apprehensive  lest  active  opposi- 
tion to  government  might  damage  his  professional 
prospects.  Nor  indeed  was  he  far  wrong.  At  any 
time,  from  the  very  beginning  almost  of  his  career, 
O'Connell  could,  had  he  been  so  minded,  have  pur- 
chased advancement  and  office  by  the  surrender  of 
his  political  principles.  That  he  did  not  do  so,  may 
be  set  in  the  balance  against  the  taunts  afterwards 
levelled  at  him  of  living  on  the  bounty  of  his  coun- 
trymen. Never  indeed  was  sarcasm  more  pointless, 
and  those  who  sneered  at  the  "  big  beggarman  " 
forgot  that  the  national  tribute  reflected  as  much 
honour  on  the  recipient  as  it  did  on  the  givers  of  it. 
Apart,  however,  from  the  question  of  the  Union 
there  is  no  reason  to  suppose  that  at  this  time 
O'Connell  took  any  particular  interest  in  politics. 
But  the  Union  exercised  a  profound  effect  upon  him. 
It  was  the  Union,  he  always  declared,  that  first  stirred  . 
him  up  to  come  forward  in  politics.  "  I  was,"  he  saidT' 
"  maddened  when  I  heard  the  bells  of  St.  Patrick's 
ringing  out  a  joyful  peal  for  Ireland's  degradation,  as 
if  it  was  a  glorious  national  festival.  My  blood  boiled, 
and  I  vowed,  on  that  morning,  that  the  foul  dishonour 
should  not  last,  if  I  could  ever  put  an  end  to  it." 

Between  his  first  and  second  appearance  on  a  pub- 
lic platform  five  years  elapsed — five  years  of  honour- 
able progress  in   his  profession,  of  mental  growth 


20  Daniel  O'Connell.  [\n5- 

and  domestic  felicity.  At  what  time  he  fell  in  love 
with  his  cousin,  Mary  O'Connell,  we  do  not  know ; 
but  if  his  practice  was  regulated  by  the  advice  he 
once  gave  to  a  friend  of  his  never  to  offer  marriage 
at  an  early  stage  in  his  courtship,  the  afTair,  we  may 
conjecture,  was  probably  of  some  years'  standing. 
Mary  O'Connell  was  the  daughter  of  Dr.  O'Connell 
of  Tralee,  a  gentleman  much  esteemed  for  his  pro- 
fessional ability,  but  of  pecuniary  resources  too 
limited  to  provide  his  daughter  with  a  dower.  The 
match  displeased  O'Connell's  family,  particularly  his 
uncle  Maurice,  who,  in  fact,  had  already  singled  out 
a  suitable  partner  for  him  in  the  person  of  Miss 
Mary  Ann  Healy,  a  mature  spinster  of  short  stature, 
but  remarkably  long  purse  and — nose.  Indeed,  so 
seriously  did  her  personal  appearance  threaten  to 
damage  her  matrimonial  prospects,  that  in  making 
his  will,  her  father  thought  it  only  right  to  increase 
her  portion  expressly  "  on  account  of  her  nose." 
But  neither  Miss  Healy *s  attractions,  nor  the  fear  of 
being  disinherited  by  his  uncle,  was  sufficient  to 
move  O'Connell  from  his  purpose. 

"  I  never,"  he  said,  "  proposed  marriage  to  any  woman 
but  one — my  Mary.  I  said  to  her,  *  Are  you  engaged. 
Miss  O'Connell  ? ' — she  answered  *  I  am  not  *  ;  *  then,' 
said  I,  *  will  you  engage  yourself  to  me  ?  *  'I  will,'  was 
her  reply.  And  I  said  I  would  devote  my  life  to  make 
her  happy.  She  deserved  that  I  should  :  she  gave  me 
thirty-four  years  of  the  purest  happiness  that  man  ever 
enjoyed." 

The  marriage  was  privately  celebrated  at  the  lodg- 
ings of  the  bride's  brother-in-law,  James  Connor,  in 


1802]  Early  Life  and  Marriage.  21 

Dame  Street,  Dublin,  on  23rd  June,  1802,  and  shortly 
afterwards  O'Connell  took  a  house  in  Westland 
Row.  It  was  in  every  respect  a  happy  marriage. 
His  wife  proved  a  true  helpmate  and  companion  to 
him,  sharing  in  all  his  joys  and  sorrows,  stimulating 
his  ambition  and  keeping  always  one  place  quiet  for 
him,  where,  when  worn  out  by  professional  cares  or 
discouraged  by  the  apparent  hopelessness  of  the 
political  struggle  on  which  he  had  entered,  he  was 
always  sure  of  finding  peace  and  sympathy  and  en- 
couragement. It  is  not  given  to  every  man,  espe- 
cially to  such  as  pass  their  lives  in  the  fierce  blaze  of 
public  opinion,  so  to  regulate  their  conduct  as  always 
to  avoid  the  arrows  of  scandal.  But  in  O'Connell's 
case  they  fell  harmlessly  by  his  side,  and  if  it  was 
indeed  true,  as  calumny  asserted,  that  on  one  occa- 
sion he  allowed  his  attentions  to  a  married  lady  to 
pass  the  strict  bounds  of  propriety,  this,  in  the  case 
of  one  of  the  best-abused  men  that  ever  lived,  was 
surely  but  as  the  dust  in  the  balance,  underlying  the 
pure  gold  of  affection  that  shines  through  every 
written  word  of  his  correspondence. 

Certainly,  the  woman  who,  after  fifteen  years  of 
wedded  life,  could  write  the  following  letter  to  her 
husband  can  hardly  be  called  unhappy : 

"  My  own  darling  Dan, — I  assure  you,  my  darling,  you 
are  our  continual  subject.  When  a  kind  husband  or 
father  is  spoken  of,  Ellen  and  Kate  will  exclaim, 
'  Mamma,  sure  he  is  not  so  good  a  husband  or  father  as 
our  father  ! '  You  may  guess,  darling,  what  my  reply  is. 
You  know  what  you  deserve,  and  you  are  aware  that  in 
existence  I   don't  think  there  is  such   a  husband  and 


22  Daniel  O^Connell.  [1775-I802] 

father  as  you  are,  and  always  have  been.  Indeed,  I 
think  it  quite  impossible  there  could,  and  if  the  truest 
and  tenderest  aflfection  can  repay  you,  believe  me  that  I 
feel  and  bear  it  for  you.  In  truth,  my  own  Dan,  I  am 
always  at  a  loss  for  words  to  convey  to  you  how  I  love 
and  doat  on  you.  Many  and  many  a  time  I  exclaim  to 
myself,  '  What  a  happy  creature  am  I ;  how  grateful 
should  I  be  to  Providence  for  bestowing  on  me  such  a 
husband  ! '  And  so,  indeed,  I  am.  We  will,  Love, 
shortly  be  fifteen  years  married,  and  I  can  answer  that  I 
never  have  had  cause  to  repent  it.  I  have,  darling,  ex- 
perienced all  the  happiness  of  the  married  state  without 
feeling  any  of  its  cares,  thanks  to  a  fond  and  indulgent 
husband." 


CHAPTER  II. 

IRELAND   AFTER   THE   UNION. 
1803-1812. 

THE  great  experiment  had  been  made.  Ireland, 
which,  since  the  days  of  Henry  II.  had  led  a 
more  or  less  independent  existence ;  bound 
only  to  her  sister-island  by  the  bond  of  allegiance 
which  both  Englishmen  and  Irishmen  owed  to  the 
same  crown,  had  now,  for  legislative  purposes,  by 
the  Act  of  Union,  become  absorbed  in  the  latter. 
Her  parliament — at  once  her  pride  and  her  shame — 
had  ceased  its  separate  existence.  Her  ancient  no- 
bility, with  privileges  curtailed  and  hereditary  lustre 
dimmed,  sat  silent  and  despised  under  the  con- 
temptuous stare  of  the  independent  barons  of  Eng- 
land. Her  representatives,  diminished  in  numbers 
to  the  requirements  of  a  mere  province,  without  the 
power,  or  even  the  will,  to  influence  by  one  hair's 
breadth  the  fate  of  their  country,  sank  into  igno- 
minious silence,  or  sought  for  compensation  in  the 
wider  interests  of  the  Empire.  Over  the  whole 
island  there  hung  a  silence  like  unto  the  silence  of 
death.     Was  it  really  death  ?     Were  the  energies  of 

23 


24  Daniel  O^Connell.  [I803- 

the  nation  actually  paralysed  ?  Or,  was  it  not  rather 
the  tranquillity  that  follows  a  storm  :  the  harbinger 
of  peaceful  days  to  come  ?  Had  the  great  experi- 
ment succeeded?  Had  Pitt  at  last  solved  the  great 
problem  that  had  defied  the  wisdom  of  all  the  illus- 
trious statesman  of  the  past  ?  Or  had  he  commit- 
ted the  greatest  blunder  of  which  any  statesman  was 
capable  ?  Who  should  say  ?  History  would  inter- 
pret it  by  the  events  of  the  future. 

Suddenly  out  of  the  silence  there  fell  upon  the 
startled  ears  of  the  metropolis  the  sound  of  a  call  to 
arms.  On  that  quiet  summer  evening,  the  23rd 
July,  1803,  a  fresh  insurrection  had  broken  out.  For 
a  moment  Thomas  Street  was  filled  by  a  rushing, 
thronging  crowd.  For  a  moment  there  was  a  real 
danger  lest  Dublin  Castle  should  fall  into  their 
hands.  Half  an  hour  later  their  leader,  the  ill-fated 
but  high-souled  Robert  Emmet,  was  a  fugitive 
among  the  Wicklow  hills,  and  of  the  insurrection 
nothing  remained  but  the  corpse  of  one  grey-headed 
old  man,  a  judge  of  the  land,  Lord  Kilwarden,  than 
whom  Ireland  never  had  a  warmer  or  a  truer  friend, 
done  to  death  in  a  mistake.  Yes !  the  whole  thing 
was  a  mistake. 

"  I  ask  you,"  said  O'Connell,  "  whether  a  madder 
scheme  was  ever  devised  by  a  Bedlamite  ?  Here  was 
Mr.  Emmet,  having  got  together  about  ^1200  in  money, 
and  seventy-four  men  ;  whereupon  he  makes  war  upon 
King  George  III.,  with  150,000  of  the  best  troops  in 
Europe,  and  the  wealth  of  three  kingdoms  at  his  com- 
mand !  Why,  my  good  sir,  poor  Emmet's  scheme  was 
as  wild  as  anything  in  romance." 


^    5 


1812]  Ireland  After  the   Union.  25 

But  mad  and  visionary  as  the  scheme  was,  it  is  out 
of  such  stuff  that  the  history  of  Ireland  is  chiefly 
made  up.  Time  after  time  had  the  Irish  measured 
their  strength  against  the  might  of  England,  each 
time  to  reap  only  defeat  and  irretrievable  disaster. 
When  would  they  learn  the  folly  of  these  heroic 
experiments  ? 

There,  keeping  watch  and  ward  in  the  street  for 
six  nights  together,  so  long  as  the  panic  lasted, 
dressed  in  the  uniform  of  the  Lawyers'  Yeomanry 
Corps,  learning  among  other  things  that  to  entrust 
civilians  with  a  bayonet  was  not  perhaps  the  best 
way  to  restore  order,  stood  one  whose  life's  business 
it  was  to  instruct  his  fellow-countrymen  in  the  effi- 
cacy of  constitutional  agitation  ;  to  turn  them  aside 
from  midnight  conspiracy  and  frantic  rebellion  ;  to 
convince  them  that  the  pen  of  the  gownsman  and 
the  voice  of  the  orator  are  more  effective  weapons 
than  the  sword  of  the  soldier  and  the  knife  of  the 
assassin  ;  but  above  all  to  teach  them  that  only 
through  national  unity,  through  singleness  of  aim 
and  purpose,  and  the  laying  aside  of  party  feuds  and 
party  jealousies  could  they  ever  expect  to  attain  to 
national  independence.  A  difficult — nay,  an  almost 
impossible — undertaking  it  might  well  have  seemed 
in  the  case  of  a  country  so  torn  to  pieces,  as  Ireland 
was,  by  religious,  political,  social,  and  agrarian  dissen- 
sions. The  one  point  from  which  a  man  might  have 
worked  had  been  destroyed  when  Pitt  destroyed  the 
Irish  parliament.  For,  ignorant  and  bigoted  as  were 
many  of  those  who  sat  in  it ;  accessible  as  were  many 
of  them  to  the  influence  of  bribes  and  offices ;  yet  they 


26  Daniel  O'Connell.  [1803- 

were  not  wholly  inaccessible  to  the  claims  of  justice 
and  humanity,  nor  to  the  influence  of  popular  opin- 
ion. The  victory  of  '82  and  the  concessions  to  the 
Roman  Catholics  proved  this.  True,  its  delibera- 
tions had  sometimes  resembled  the  wrangling  of  a 
bear-garden  ;  true,  indeed,  that  the  Imperial  Parlia- 
ment would  probably  deliberate  more  calmly — if,  in- 
deed, it  condescended  to  deliberate  at  all.  This  was 
the  danger.  For  how  could  three-fourths  of  the 
population  insist  on  having  their  wants  and  wishes 
attended  to  if,  excluded  from  representation,  they 
were  likewise  deprived  of  the  influence  of  public 
opinion  ?  Let  the  reader  compare  the  division  lists 
during  the  first  quarter  of  this  century  with  those  of 
more  modern  times,  and  he  will  be  able  to  appreci- 
ate in  something  like  its  formidable  dimensions  the 
task  which  O'Connell  undertook,  and  if  only  par- 
tially, yet  not  wholly  unsuccessfully,  accomplished. 

O'Connell's  first  appearance  in  public,  as  we  have 
remarked,  was  at  a  meeting  of  a  few  spirited  Roman 
Catholic  citizens  of  Dublin  to  protest  against  the 
Union.  But  as  a  body  the  Catholics  regarded  the 
measure  with  languid  interest.  Their  leaders,  if  not 
convinced,  had  at  least  been  induced  to  hope  that 
the  surrender  of  their  national  independence  would 
be  followed  by  their  complete  religious  emancipa- 
tion. The  hope  had  proved  delusive,  and  Pitt,  un- 
able wholly  to  exonerate  himself  from  blame,  had 
repudiated  his  responsibility  by  resigning  office.  It 
was  a  case  of  moral  bankruptcy :  for  the  Union 
remained,  though  the  price  stipulated  for  it  had 
not  been   paid.      The  result  greatly   damaged  the 


1812]  h" eland  After  the  Union.  27 

reputation  of  the  chiefs  of  the  Catholic  party ;  but  the 
suspension  of  the  Habeas  Corpus  Act,  during  the 
years  immediately  following  the  Union,  effectually, 
if  not  entirely,  silenced  all  remonstrance.  Never- 
theless as  time  went  on  symptoms  began  to  manifest 
themselves  that  the  younger  Catholics  were  grow- 
ing impatient  of  the  timid  policy  of  their  nominal 
leaders.  Already  at  a  semi-informal  meeting  in 
February,  1805 — the  first  that  had  been  held  since 
the  Rebellion — O'Connell,  now  beginning  to  take 
an  active  interest  in  politics,  had  protested  against 
further  delay  in  agitating  their  claims,  and  so  far 
successfully  that  the  meeting  very  cautiously  and 
after  much  hesitation  resolved  to  petition  parlia- 
ment. The  petition,  the  first  of  a  long  series  to 
the  Imperial  Parliament,  was  presented  on  25th 
March  by  Lord  Grenville  in  the  Upper  and  by  Fox 
in  the  Lower  House.  Among  the  signatures  ap- 
pended to  it  that  of  O'Connell  appears  as  seven- 
teenth in  the  list. 

It  was  of  course  rejected  ;  but  its  rejection,  far  from 
seeming  a  reason  for  relaxing  their  efforts  and  falling 
back  into  hopeless  apathy,  was  in  O'Connell's  opinion 
only  an  argument  in  favour  of  redoubled  exertions 
and  sessional  petitions.  In  this,  however,  he  had 
reluctantly  to  yield  to  the  will  of  the  majority,  which 
in  their  desire  not  to  hamper  Fox,  who  had  in  the 
meantime  succeeded  to  office,  thought  it  wiser  to 
refrain  from  agitating  the  question,  leaving  it  to  that 
statesman's  generosity  and  well-known  sympathy 
with  them  to  advocate  their  claims  at  whatever 
opportunity  should  seem  to  him    most   propitious. 


28  Daniel  O'Connell.  [I803- 

The  opportunity  never  arrived ;  but  after  Fox's 
death,  a  few  months  later,  bolder  counsels  began  to 
prevail. /At  a  Catholic  aggregate  on  17th  February, 
1807,  O'Connell,  aided  perhaps  by  the  accidental 
absence  of  John  Keogh  of  Mount  Jerome — a  Goliath 
among  the  Catholics  of  an  older  generation  and  still, 
though  tottering  on  the  edge  of  the  grave,  not  with- 
out influence  among  them — succeeded  in  carrying 
the  meeting  with  him.  What,  he  asked,  was  the 
meaning  of  the  objection  that  to  petition  parliament 
for  admission  into  the  constitution  was  to  injure  the 
Empire  ?  Was  it  an  injury  to  offer  the  allegiance 
of  five  millions  of  subjects?  He  would  tell  those 
who  spoke  thus  that  emancipation  would  long  ago 
have  been  conceded  by  their  Protestant  countrymen 
in  their  domestic  legislature  had  not  the  Union, 
with  rude  violence  and  amid  the  wreck  of  the 
country,  swept  away  every  opportunity  of  kindness 
and  liberality  on  the  one  hand  and  every  occasion 
of  gratitude  and  affection  on  the  other.  By  a  small 
majority  the  meeting  resolved  to  again  petition 
parliament.  But  the  petition  was  never  presented. 
The  courage  with  which  O'Connell's  words  had 
inspired  it  soon  evaporated,  and  Keogh,  indignant  at 
the  presumption  to  instruct  him  in  the  management 
of  the  Catholic  business,  procured  its  withdrawal  at 
a  subsequent  meeting  on  i8th  April,  nominally  out 
of  deference  to  the  wishes  of  the  veteran  advocate 
of  their  claims,  Henry  Grattan. 

Nevertheless  the  "  dignified  silence,"  or  "  wait-a- 
while" policy  of  Keogh  and  his  aristocratic  friends 
had  received  a  blow  from  which  it  never  recovered. 


HENRY  GRATTAN, 

FROM   AN   ENQRAVINQ    BY    QODLEY,    IN    THE   BRITISH    MUSEUM. 


1812]  Ireland  After  the   Union.  29 

"  Keogh,"  said  O'Connell,  "  was  undoubtedly  useful 
in  his  day.  But  he  was  one  who  would  rather  that 
the  cause  should  fail  than  that  anybody  but  himself 
should  have  the  honour  of  carrying  it."  The  judg- 
ment, though  severe,  was  not  unmerited ;  for  the 
Catholics,  in  the  unbiassed  opinion  of  Wolfe  Tone, 
owed  Keogh  little  thanks  for  the  way  in  which  he 
had  bungled  their  affairs  in  1793.  IThe  growing  in- 
fluence of  O'Connell  was  apparent  at  the  next  aggre- 
gate, on  19th  January,  1808.  Again  the  voice  of  the 
"  dignified  silence  "  party  made  itself  heard  in  favour 
of  delay.  The  time  was  not  propitious ;  their 
avowed  enemies  were  in  power,  and  the  like.  But 
all  these  objections — objections  that  could  only  man- 
ifest a  spirit  of  division,  a  feeling  of  party,  and  a 
miserable  ambition  of  leadership — O'Connell  swept 
aside,  and  under  the  inspiration  of  his  eloquence  the 
meeting  unanimously  resolved  to  petition.  From 
that  day  he  and  not  Keogh  was  the  leader  of  the 
Catholics,   j 

The  first  step  had  been  taken.  Whither  would  it 
lead  ?  Not  as  yet  to  emancipation  ;  but  to  dissen- 
sions, heart-burnings,  petty  jealousies,  despondency, 
and  apathy  among  the  Catholics  themselves.  Only 
through  much  tribulation  and  long-suffering  were 
the  Catholics  to  work  out  their  freedom.  And  the 
cause  of  all  this  misfortune  was,  in  the  first  place, 
the  man  who,  though  himself  a  Protestant,  had  un- 
selfishly devoted  the  evening  of  a  long  and  useful  life 
to  the  advancement  of  their  cause  ! 

On  23d  May,  1808,  Grattan  presented  the  Catho- 
lic petition  to  the  House  of  Commons,  and  two  days 


30  Daniel  O^CcrnneU.  [1803- 

later  in  referring  it  to  committee  he  announced  that 
he  was  able  to  infuse  a  little  novelty  into  the  debate 
in  consequence  of  his  having  been  authorised  by  the 
Catholics  to  consent  to  a  veto  by  the  crown  on  all 
episcopal  nominations,  or  in  other  words  that  no 
Catholic  bishop  should  be  nominated  without  the  ex- 
press approbation  of  the  sovereign.  The  statement 
made  a  favourable  impression  on  the  House  and  dis- 
armed many  of  the  opponents  of  emancipation. 
But  in  Ireland  the  announcement  was  received  with 
very  mingled  feelings.  No  one  could  of  course  be- 
lieve that  Grattan  had  made  the  statement  without 
having  some  good  grounds  for  it ;  but  it  was  equally 
certain  that  no  such  concession  had  been  made  by  the 
Catholics  publicly  as  a  body.  It  is  unnecessary  to 
discuss  the  details  of  the  intrigue  that  had  led  to  the 
unfortunate  misunderstanding.  Suffice  it  to  say  that 
while  the  Catholic  aristocracy,  and  all  those  who 
hoped  to  profit  in  the  distribution  of  the  loaves  and 
fishes  of  office,  regarded  the  concession  with  favour 
as  a  short-cut  to  the  realisation  of  their  wishes,  the 
bulk  of  their  co-religionists  repudiated  it  with  indig- 
nation. Neither  side  would  give  way,  and  so, 
divided  into  vetoists  and  anti-vetoists,  wasting  their 
strength  in  mutual  recrimination  and  mutual  abuse, 
the  Catholics  ceased,  for  a  time,  to  excite  anything 
but  the  contempt  and  derision  of  their  opponents- 
Only  O'Connell  never  despaired  of  their  ultimate 
success,  insisting  continually,  in  season  and  out  of 
season,  on  the  necessity  of  constant  agitation  ;  but 
preaching  for  the  most  part  to  dull  and  hostile  ears. 
But  the  baneful  effects  of  the  Union  had,  by  this 


1812]  Ireland  After  the   Union.  31 

time,  begun  to  be  felt  in  other  quarters  than  among 
the  Catholics,  and  nowhere  with  greater  intensity 
than  among  the  merchants  of  the  metropolis.  This 
was  to  be  expected.  For  the  conditions  which  had 
led  to  the  extraordinary  development  of  Dublin 
during  the  latter  half  of  the  eighteenth  century — 
the  confluence  thither  of  the  aristocracy  and  gentry 
during  the  meeting  of  parliament,  stirring  into 
activity  all  those  trades  and  professions  that  follow 
in  the  wake  of  wealth — now  that  they  had  ceased  to 
exist,  their  disappearance  had  produced  a  correspond- 
ing state  of  depression.  It  was  as  if  the  centre  of  a 
great  industry  had  suddenly  been  annihilated  ;  and 
as  Rome  suffered  when  Constantine  removed  the 
capital  of  the  empire  to  the  shores  of  the  Bosphorus, 
so  Dublin  suffered  when  Pitt  transferred  the  Irish 
legislature  to  London.  What  Dublin  lost  London 
gained  ;  but  the  gain  to  the  larger  and  richer  town 
did  not  compensate  for  the  loss  to  the  smaller  and 
poorer.  The  mansions  of  the  nobility  and  gentry, 
formerly  replete  with  elegance  and  luxury,  standing 
tenantless  and  deserted,  or,  if  inhabited  at  all,  so 
subdivided  and  sub-let  that  each  apartment  was  the 
abode  of  over-crowded  poverty  and  squalor  ;  the  un- 
frequented streets,  the  steadily-rising  list  of  failures 
and  bankruptcies — all  these  were  the  sure  signs  of 
decadence.  In  proportion  as  the  city  declined  com- 
mercially so  did  it  decline  intellectually.  What  visi- 
tor to  Dublin  in  the  early  decades  of  this  century 
could  ever  think  of  comparing  it  with  the  Dublin 
of  Charlemont's  time  ?  Elsewhere  the  signs  of  de- 
pression were  not  so  visible,  and  if  indeed  Limerick, 


32  Daniel  O'ConnelL 


[1803- 


Cork,  Galway,  and  Waterford  remained  stationary, 
Belfast  was  actually  growing  and  beginning  to  rival 
Dublin  itself  in  wealth  and  importance.  But  Bel- 
fast had  never  known  what  it  was  to  be  the  capital 
of  the  kingdom,  and  the  causes  which  were  leading  to 
its  increasing  prosperity  were  natural  and  wholly 
devoid  of  political  significance.  Throughout  the 
country  generally  the  yearly  growing  number  of 
absentee  proprietors,  bringing  with  it  the  dissolution 
of  those  personal  ties  which  had  hitherto  existed 
between  landlord  and  tenant  and  helped  to  mollify 
the  asperities  of  a  state  of  affairs  having  its  origin 
in  conquest  and  confiscation,  pointed  inevitably  in 
the  direction  of  Encumbered  Estates  Acts  and  the 
transference  of  the  soil  from  gentlemen  into  the 
hands  of  money  lenders.  The  facts  were  too  patent 
to  admit  of  dispute,  and  men,  who  had  hitherto 
fiercely  opposed  each  other  in  politics  and  religion, 
found  themselves  drawn  together  on  a  common  plat- 
form by  a  perception  of  their  common  misfortune. 
I  In  the  darkness  that  had  fallen  on  the  Catholic 
cause  the  prospect  of  finding  in  the  repeal  of  the 
Union  a  fresh  rallying-point  for  agitation,  in  which 
Irishmen  of  every  religious  persuasion,  Protestant, 
Catholic,  and  Presbyterian,  could  take  part,  seemed 
to  O'Connell  ^n  unexpected  blessing.  It  was  with 
extreme  satisfaction,  therefore,  that  he  accepted  an 
invitation  from  the  high  sheriff  of  Dublin,  Sir  James 
Riddall,  to  attend  an  aggregate  meeting  of  the  citi- 
zens, freemen  and  freeholders  of  Dublin,  at  the  Royal 
Exchange,  on  i8th  September,  1810,  to  consider 
the  propriety  of  petitioning  parliament  for  a  repeal 


1812]  Ireland  After  the   Unioji.  33 

of  the  Union.  Speaking  in  support  of  a  resolution 
to  appoint  a  committee  to  prepare  the  petition,  he 
said  that  the  Union,  so  far  from  healing  the  wounds 
of  their  country,  had  only  added  another  element  of 
discord.  No  Irishman  could  look  back  on  the  ten 
years  that  had  elapsed  since  the  Union — ten  years 
of  torpor  and  silence — without  a  sense  of  shame  and 
indignation.  It  was  a  melancholy  period — a  period 
in  which  Ireland  saw  her  artificers  starved,  her 
tradesmen  begging,  her  merchants  become  bank- 
rupts, her  gentry  banished,  her  nobility  degraded. 
Within  that  period  domestic  turbulence  had  broken 
out  from  day  to  day  into  open  violence  and  murder  ; 
religious  dissensions  aggravated  and  embittered ; 
credit  and  commerce  annihilated  ;  taxation  aug- 
mented in  amount  and  vexation.  But  as  the  Union 
had  only  been  possible  through  their  own  folly  and 
religious  dissensions,  so  its  repeal  was  only  possible 
through  mutual  tolerance  and  national  unity.  The 
Protestant  alone  could  not  expect  to  liberate  his 
country  ;  the  Roman  Catholic  alone  could  not  do  it  ; 
neither  could  the  Presbyterian  ;  but  amalgamate  the 
three  into  the  Irishman,  and  the  Union  stood  re- 
pealed. Let  them,  he  begged  them,  learn  discretion 
from  their  enemies.  They  had  crushed  Ireland  by 
fomenting  religious  discord  :  let  them  serve  her  by 
abandoning  it  for  ever.  Let  each  man  give  up  his 
share  of  the  mischief :  let  each  man  forsake  every 
feeling  of  rancour.  He  said  not  this  to  barter  with 
them.  He  required  no  equivalent.  Whatever  course 
they  took,  his  mind  was  fixed.  He  would  trample 
under  foot  the  Catholic  claims  could  they  interfere 


34  Daniel  O^  Connell.  [1803- 

with  Repeal.  Nay,  were  Mr.  Perceval  to-morrow  to 
offer  him  the  repeal  of  the  Union  upon  the  terms  of 
re-enacting  the  entire  penal  code,  he  declared  it  from 
his  heart  and  in  the  presence  of  his  God,  that  he 
would  most  cheerfully  embrace  his  offer. 

But  the  poison  of  religious  discord  had  entered 
too  deeply  into  the  life-blood  of  the  nation  to  yield 
thus  easily  to  the  medicine  of  remonstrance,  how- 
ever wisely  or  eloquently  administered.  An  old 
tale,  and  soon  told  in  the  case  of  Ireland,  to  relate 
how  enthusiasm  was  followed  by  apathy ;  and  in 
short  how  the  whole  movement  burnt  itself  out  in 
ineffectual  speeches  and  cheers ;  ineffectual  to  attract 
attention  as  the  rattling  of  the  prisoner's  chains  turn- 
ing restlessly  in  his  sleep  is  to  disturb  the  security  of 
his  gaoler.  Nothing,  it  was  clear  to  O'Connell, 
could  be  expected  so  long  as  the  Catholics  were 
divided  amongst  themselves.  How  to  compose  their 
differences,  and  to  give  greater  emphasis  to  their  de- 
mands than  was  afforded  by  the  spasmodic  opera- 
tion of  aggregate  assemblies,  and  the  listless  action 
of  an  irresponsible  committee,  was  the  problem  that 
awaited  solution. 

In  the  early  days  of  Catholic  agitation  their  meet- 
ings had  partaken  of  the  character  of  a  representative 
assembly,  and  were  indeed  like  those  of  the  volun- 
teers, a  sort  of  imperium.  in  imperio.  That  such  as- 
semblies as  that  which  gained  for  itself  the  nick-name 
of  the  Back-Lane  Parliament  constituted  a  real 
menace  to  the  independence  of  Parliament  could  not 
be  denied,  and  immediately  after  the  concessions  of 
1793  an  act  was  passed,  called  the  Convention  Act, 


1812]  Ireland  After  the  Union.  35 

which,  it  may  be  remarked,  was  not  formally  repealed 
till  1879 — rendering  such  representative  meetings 
for  any  purposes  whatever  illegal  in  the  future. 
From  that  time  forward  the  affairs  of  the  Catholics 
had  rested  with  a  Committee,  elected  by  a  general 
meeting,  whose  business  had  restricted  itself  to  the 
preparation  of  petitions  to  Parliament.  The  question 
was  how  to  give  to  such  Committee  the  character 
and  authority  of  a  representative  body  without  in- 
fringing the  provisions  of  the  Convention  Act.  The 
first  step  was  to  increase  the  size  of  the  Committee. 
This  was  done  at  an  aggregate  meeting  on  19th  July, 
1 8 10,  when  the  preparation  of  a  petition  was  en- 
trusted to  forty-two  persons  ;  their  appointment  be- 
ing safeguarded  by  a  resolution  to  the  effect  that 
they  were  not  to  be  regarded  as  the  representatives 
of  the  Catholic  body  or  any  portion  thereof.  The 
next  step  was  taken  by  the  Committee  itself  at  a  sub- 
sequent meeting  on  29th  December,  when  a  resolution 
— based  on  a  previous  one  of  30th  July,  suggesting 
the  formation  of  local  committees  holding  communi- 
cation with  the  general  Committee  in  Dublin  as 
likely  to  prove  highly  useful  to  the  Catholic  cause — 
was  passed,  requiring  their  secretary  to  address  an 
invitation  to  the  Catholics  of  Ireland  generally  to 
appoint  managers  of  the  Catholic  petition  in  each 
county.  The  invitation  was  accepted  here  and  there, 
and  when  the  Committee  met  on  2d  February,  181 1, 
to  frame  a  petition  for  presentation  to  parliament, 
the  presence  of  a  number  of  country  gentlemen,  as 
managers  for  their  respective  counties,  led  to  a  fierce 
dispute,  the  opposition  being  led  by  Keogh's  son. 


2,6  Daniel  O'Connell.  [1803- 

Cornelius,  supported  by  Lord  Ffrench,  who  insisted 
that  the  Committee  had  no  right,  without  infringing 
the  Convention  Act,  to  add  to  its  numbers  beyond 
that  fixed  by  the  aggregate  meeting  from  which  it 
had  derived  its  authority.  The  objection  was  met 
by  O'Connell,  who  argued  that  as  the  Committee  it- 
self was  not  a  representative  assembly,  the  presence 
of  the  managers  could  not  be  regarded  as  a  breach 
of  the  Convention  Act,  inasmuch  as,  according  to  a 
trite  and  quaint  maxim,  which  no  one  disputed,  "  a 
deputy  could  not  constitute  a  deputy."  It  was  his 
first  attempt  at  driving  a  coach  and  six  through  an 
act  of  Parliament — an  art  at  which  he  afterwards 
became  adept. 

But  it  soon  appeared  that  government  was  not 
going  to  allow  the  action  of  the  Committee  to  pass 
unchallenged.  On  I2th  February  the  Chief  Secre- 
tary, Wellesley  Pole,  issued  a  circular  letter  to  all 
sheriffs,  chief  magistrates,  etc.,  throughout  the  coun- 
try, authorising  them  to  arrest  and  summarily  im- 
prison all  such  Catholics  as,  in  contravention  of  the 
Act  33,  George  III.,  chap.  29,  were  engaged  in  ap- 
pointing representatives,  delegates,  or  managers,  to 
act  on  their  behalf,  as  members  of  an  unlawful  as- 
sembly sitting  in  Dublin,  and  caUing  itself  the 
Catholic  Committee.  The  letter,  a  mere  brututn 
fulmen  intended  to  deter  the  Catholics  from  the 
course  upon  which  they  were  entering,  gave  rise  to 
a  debate  in  the  House  of  Commons  on  22d  Feb- 
ruary, when  it  was  sharply  criticised  as  unconstitu- 
tionally trenching  on  the  sacred  right  of  petitioning. 
But  before  any  information    regarding  the   debate 


DANIEL  O'CONNELL,  M.P. 

FROM    A    FAINTING   BY    BERNARD    MULRENIN,    R.  H.A. ,    IN    THE    NATIONAL    PORTRAIT   GALLERY. 


1812]  Ireland  After  the  Union.  37 

could  reach  Ireland,  matters  there  had  entered  on  a 
new  phase.  For  the  Catholic  Committee,  reassem- 
bling on  23d  February  to  resume  its  consideration 
of  the  petition,  an  order  was  conveyed  from  the 
Castle  requiring  its  instant  dispersal.  This  the 
Catholics  refused  to  do  ;  but  after  an  angry  wrangle 
with  two  police  magistrates,  sent  to  enforce  the  or- 
der of  government,  they  adjourned  for  three  days  in 
order  to  allow  of  a  conference  between  their  leaders 
and  the  Chief  Secretary.  The  conference  never 
took  place.  On  26th  February  the  Catholics  reas- 
sembled, according  to  the  adjournment,  and  tran- 
sacted their  business  without  further  interruption. 

The  Committee  had  scored  its  first  victory.  It 
had  risked  a  collision  with  the  government,  and  the 
government  had  declined  the  challenge.  Elated 
with  the  success,  the  Catholics  started  a  vigorous 
campaign  against  administration.  At  an  aggregate 
meeting  on  8th  March,  O'Connell,  in  a  very  temper- 
ate and  constitutional  speech,  moved  to  address  the 
Prince  Regent  on  the  subject  of  Pole's  letter,  and  to 
petition  for  his  removal  and  that  of  the  Lord-Lieu- 
tenant, the  Duke  of  Richmond.  The  motion  was 
carried,  and  other  meetings  for  a  similar  purpose 
were  held  elsewhere.  At  all  these  meetings  O'Con- 
nell was  the  chief  speaker.  He  was,  indeed,  the 
heart  and  soul  of  the  agitation.  His  energy  was 
amazing,  and  only  equalled  by  his  enthusiasm.  He 
had  recently  moved  into  a  new  house.  No.  30  (now 
58)  Merrion  Square,  South  ;  but  not  a  detail  in  the 
furnishing  of  it  that  could  add  to  the  comfort  of  his 
wife  escaped  his  personal  supervision.     Busy  all  day 


38  Daniel  O'Connell. 


[1803- 


long,  either  on  circuit,  or  in  the  law-courts,  he  could 
still  find  time  to  arrange  meetings,  draw  up  resolu- 
tions, make  speeches  and  in  short  direct  the  whole 
business  of  the  Catholics,  struggling  ceaselessly  to 
arouse  his  countrymen  from  their  torpor. 

The  principle  of  appointing  managers,  though  at- 
tacked, had  prevailed.  Was  it  possible  to  extend 
the  principle  still  further  without  running  foul  of 
the  Convention  Act  ?  At  any  rate  it  was  worth  try- 
ing. Anything,  in  O'Connell's  opinion,  was  better 
than  stagnation — even  prosecution.  Accordingly  at 
a  general  meeting  held  in  Fishamble  Street  theatre, 
on  9th  July,  for  the  purpose  of  appointing  a  Com- 
mittee to  prepare  the  Catholic  petition,  it  was  re- 
solved that  the  said  Committee  do  consist  of  the 
Catholic  peers  and  their  eldest  sons,  the  Catholic 
baronets,  the  prelates  of  the  Catholic  Church  in  Ire- 
land, ten  persons  to  be  appointed  by  the  Catholics 
in  each  county  in  Ireland,  and  also  of  five  persons  to 
be  appointed  by  the  Catholic  inhabitants  of  each 
parish  in  Dublin.  O'Connell,  who  was  suffering 
from  a  slight  indisposition,  and  spoke  with  difficulty, 
confined  himself  to  a  few  remarks.  In  the  propriety 
of  the  step  they  were  about  to  take,  he  expressed 
his  entire  concurrence,  especially  in  so  far  as  it  went 
to  give  the  people  the  free,  unbiassed,  and  constitu- 
tional right  of  selecting  a  Committee.  He  consid- 
ered it  a  justifiable  experiment,  and  cheerfully 
offered  himself  as  the  first  victim  of  a  legal  prosecu- 
tion. If  any  one  parish  in  the  city  of  Dublin  would 
do  him  the  honour  of  electing  him  to  represent 
them  in  the  common  council,  he  was  ready  to  give 


1812]  Ireland  After  the   Union.  39 

bail  and  let  the  legal  question,  arising  on  the  con- 
struction of  the  statute,  be  thus  settled. 

Government  accepted  the  challenge.  On  2d  Au- 
gust a  proclamation  was  issued  pronouncing  such 
elections  to  be  illegal,  and  ten  days  later  a  number  of 
gentlemen  who  had  taken  part  in  them  were  arrested 
on  the  warrant  of  Chief-Justice  Downes.  The  trial 
was  appointed  for  November.  On  19th  October 
the  Catholic  Committee,  as  reconstituted,  assem- 
bled in  Fishamble  Street  theatre.  The  business  of 
the  meeting  had  been  concluded,  and  the  members 
were  already  dispersing  when  two  police  magistrates 
appeared  on  the  scene.  Their  object  was  unmistak- 
able ;  but  this  time  they  had  arrived  too  late.  On 
2 1st  November  began  the  trial  of  Dr.  Edward  Sheri- 
dan, one  of  the  gentlemen  concerned  in  the  illegal  elec- 
tions. Though  not  leading  counsel  in  the  case,  the 
plan  of  the  defence  had  been  arranged  by  O'Con- 
nell.  The  case  for  the  prosecution  turned  upon  the 
construction  to  be  placed  on  the  words  in  the  Con- 
vention Act  '■'  wxv^^x pretence  of  petitioning,"  which  it 
was  agreed  meant  purpose.  The  defence  admitted 
that  the  meeting  was  for  the  bona  fide  purpose  of 
petitioning,  that  there  was  no  pretence  about  it,  and 
therefore  did  not  fall  within  the  ban  of  the  Act. 
In  charging  the  jury  Chief-Justice  Downes  let  it 
clearly  be  seen  that,  whatever  construction  the  words 
were  capable  of,  in  his  opinion  the  Committee,  in  its 
new  shape,  was  an  illegal  assembly  within  the  mean- 
ing of  the  Act ;  but  the  jury  took  the  opposite  view 
and  acquitted  Dr.  Sheridan. 

The  victory  of  the  Catholics  was,  however,  short- 


40  Daniel  O^Cofinell.  [1803- 

lived.  A  counter-prosecution  against  Chief-Justice 
Downes  for  illegal  arrest  failed ;  and  on  reassem- 
bling in  Fishamble  Street  theatre  on  23d  December 
the  Committee  found  the  room  in  possession  of  a 
police  magistrate.  A  scene  of  intense  excitement 
followed.  Requesting  to  be  informed  if  the  meet- 
ing was  that  of  the  Catholic  Committee,  but  obtain- 
ing no  direct  answer  to  his  question,  the  magistrate 
took  it  upon  himself  to  decide  that  it  was,  and 
ordered  it  instantly  to  disperse.  Failing,  however, 
to  induce  the  chairman,  Lord  Fingal,  to  leave  the 
chair,  he  forcibly  removed  him  by  gently  pushing 
him  from  it.  The  meeting,  thereupon,  voted  the 
Hon.  Thomas  Barnwall  into  his  place  ;  but,  yielding 
to  the  advice  of  Sir  Edward  Bellew,  immediately 
afterwards  quietly  separated.  Some  of  the  members 
then  proceeded  to  the  Crown  and  Anchor  tavern, 
whither  the  indefatigable  police  magistrate  iollowed 
them,  but  retired  without  further  molesting  them 
on  learning  that  they  had  met  in  their  individual 
capacity.  It  was  clear  that  the  Duke  of  Richmond 
and  Mr.  Wellesley  Pole  were  in  earnest  this  time. 
They  had  failed  to  convict  Dr.  Sheridan  ;  but  they 
had  defeated  the  attack  on  Chief-Justice  Downes, 
they  had  dispersed  the  Committee,  and  in  January  of 
the  following  year,  18 12,  they  managed  to  secure  the 
conviction  of  Mr.  Thomas  Kirwan  on  a  similar  charge 
to  that  preferred  against  Sheridan.  But  the  resources 
of  the  Catholics  were  by  no  means  exhausted.  For 
assembling  in  aggregate  meeting  on  26th  December 
they  entrusted  the  management  of  their  affairs  to 
a  Catholic  Board,  which  was,  however,  merely  the 


1812] 


Ireland  After  the   Union. 


41 


Catholic  Committee  under  a  new  name.  Their 
tactics  did  not  deceive  government ;  but  as  the 
Board  had  been  expressly  appointed  for  the  purpose 
of  petitioning,  it  did  not  feel  justified  in  suppressing 
it,  though  determined  to  keep  a  close  watch  on  its 
proceedings. 


CHAPTER  III. 

PARLIAMENT  AND   THE   CATHOLIC   CLAIMS. 
1812-1813. 

ON  I  ith  May,  1812,  a  bullet  fired  by  a  madman, 
named  Bellingham,  cut  short  the  life  of  the 
Prime  Minister  of  England,  Mr.  Perceval. 
The  deed  sent  a  thrill  of  horror  through  the  country ; 
but  it  was  not  without  a  certain  feeling  of  relief  that 
men  saw  an  end  put  to  one  of  the  most  bigoted  and 
reactionary  administrations  of  modern  times. 

"  For  my  part,"  said  O'Connell,  "  I  feel  unaffected 
horror  at  his  fate,  and  all  trace  of  resentment  for  his 
crimes  is  obliterated  ;  but  I  do  not  forget  that  he  was  a 
narrow-minded  bigot,  a  paltry  statesman,  and  a  bad  min- 
ister ;  that  every  species  of  public  corruption  and  profli- 
gacy had  in  him  a  flippant  and  pert  advocate  ;  that  every 
advance  towards  reform  or  economy  had  in  him  a  de- 
cided enemy  ;  and  that  the  liberties  of  the  people  were 
the  object  of  his  derision." 

Surely  now,  however,  thought  the  Catholics,  now 
that  his  baneful  influence  was  removed,  the  Regent 

42 


[1812-13]     Parliament  and  Catholic  Claims.      43 

would  have  the  courage,  as  he  was  long  supposed  to 
have  the  will,  to  free  himself  from  his  father's  ser- 
vants and,  mindful  of  his  old  promises,  promises  often 
repeated,  call  round  him  more  liberal-minded  men. 

The  fond  delusion  was  soon  dispelled.  His  re- 
fusal to  admit  a  deputation  of  Catholics  to  a  personal 
interview,  and  the  reconstruction  of  an  administra- 
tion on  lines  avowedly  hostile  to  their  claims,  was 
evidence  sufficient  to  convince  the  blindest  that  no 
considerations  of  honour  would  induce  the  Prince  to 
run  the  slightest  risk  on  their  behalf.  The  indigna- 
tion of  the  Catholics  found  vent  in  the  famous 
"  witchery  resolutions," — a  thinly  veiled  attack  on 
the  Regent's  liaison  with  Lady  Hertford — at  an 
aggregate  meeting  on  i8th  June, 

"  We  learn,"  said  the  Catholics,  "  with  deep  disap- 
pointment and  anguish,  how  cruelly  the  promised  boon 
of  Catholic  freedom  has  been  intercepted  by  the  fatal 
witchery  of  an  unworthy  secret  influence,  hostile  to  our 
fairest  hopes,  spurning  alike  the  sanctions  of  public  and 
private  virtue,  the  demands  of  personal  gratitude,  and 
the  sacred  obligations  of  plighted  honour.  To  this  im- 
pure source  we  trace,  but  too  distinctly,  our  afflicted 
hopes  and  protracted  servitude,  the  arrogant  invasion  of 
the  undoubted  right  of  petitioning,  the  acrimony  of 
illegal  state  prosecutions,  the  surrender  of  Ireland  to 
prolonged  oppression,  and  the  insult  and  the  many  ex- 
periments, equally  pitiful  and  perilous,  recently  practised 
upon  the  habitual  passiveness  of  an  ill-treated  but  high- 
spirited  people." 

What  the  resolutions  lacked  in  direct  application 
was  supplied  by  O'Connell,  whose  indictment  of  the 


44  Daniel  O^Connell.  ti8i2- 

Regent  created  an  extraordinary  sensation.  But 
what  would  have  been  the  violence  of  O'Connell's 
language  had  it  been  known,  as  it  now  is,  that  the 
Duke  of  Richmond  and  Wellesley  Pole  in  dispersing 
the  Committee  had  been  merely  acting  on  the  secret 
instructions  of  the  Regent  himself? 

It  was  a  petulant  and  even  foolish  explosion  of 
wrath,  natural  enough  perhaps  under  the  circum- 
stances, but  calculated  to  do  harm  by  creating  fresh 
obstacles  in  the  way  of  emancipation.  But  the  set- 
tlement of  the  Catholic  question  had  now  become  a 
matter  of  political  expediency.  It  was  a  disturbing 
element  in  English  politics.  It,  and  it  alone,  had 
prevented  Canning  and  Wellesley  accepting  office  in 
the  new  administration  at  a  time  when  the  strain 
placed  upon  England  by  the  war  with  France  called 
for  unanimity  and  vigorous  action  at  home.  The 
question  must  therefore  be  settled  without  further 
delay.  Public  opinion  in  Ireland  was  divided  as  to 
the  terms  of  the  settlement.  It  should  therefore  be 
settled  without  reference  to  Irish  opinion,  and  solely 
on  the  grounds  of  Imperial  policy.  Accordingly  on 
22d  June  the  House  of  Commons,  on  the  motion  of 
Canning,  pledged  itself  by  235  to  106  to  take  into  its 
consideration  in  the  following  session  the  laws  affect- 
ing the  Roman  Catholics. 

The  announcement  was  hailed  with  lively  satis- 
faction in  Ireland.  The  Catholics,  said  O'Connell, 
speaking  at  an  aggregate  meeting  on  2d  July,  had 
reached  a  momentous  period  in  their  history.  Thrice 
before  had  emancipation  seemed  within  their  grasp ; 
thrice  had  it  eluded  them — in  1793,  when  they  failed 


1813]  Parliament  and  the  Catholic  Claims.    45 

from  timidity;  in  1800,  when  they  rejected  it  as  the 
price  of  their  nationah'ty  ;  in  1806,  when  they  al- 
lowed themselves  to  be  deluded  by  the  good  inten- 
tions of  the  Whigs.  From  these  errors  of  the  past 
their  conduct  now  should  be  free.  Their  course 
was  plain  and  simple.  It  consisted,  not  in  relaxing, 
but  in  redoubling  their  efforts ;  in  pressing  forward 
as  a  people  should  do  who  deserved  liberty.  Under 
the  banner  of  "  Simple  Repeal  "  Ireland  had  once 
before  triumphed  gloriously.  It  was  a  motto  of 
good  omen.  Let  "  Simple  Repeal "  be  re-echoed 
from  north  to  south,  from  east  to  west,  and  should 
they  again  fail  they  would  at  least  have  the  consola- 
tion of  knowing  that  they  had  deserved  success.  At 
Limerick,  on  24th  July,  during  the  assizes,  his  lan- 
guage was  even  more  direct.  Nothing,  he  declared, 
would  satisfy  the  Catholics  but  their  absolute  and  un- 
qualified emancipation.  The  talk  about  securities  as 
the  price  of  their  freedom  was  a  base  and  dastardly 
insult  upon  their  understanding,  and  they  would 
have  none  of  it. 

Wherever  he  spoke — at  Dublin,  at  Limerick,  at 
Cork — his  words  were  cheered  to  the  echo.  But 
cheers  alone,  he  reminded  his  audience,  would  never 
lead  to  victory.  He  knew  well  the  nature  of  his 
countrymen — how  soon  they  were  moved  to  en- 
thusiasm, how  quickly  their  enthusiasm  evaporated 
before  the  stern  realities  of  every-day  life.  It  was 
easy,  he  used  to  say,  to  tell  a  Catholic  in  the  streets 
by  his  subdued  demeanour  and  crouching  walk.  So 
deeply  had  the  iron  of  oppression  entered  their  souls 
that,  in  order  to  curry  favour  with  their  Protestant 


46  Daniel  O'Connell.  11812- 

neighbours,  they  would  surrender  their  most  sacred 
rights,  allow  themselves  to  be  driven  like  ani- 
mals to  the  polling  booths  to  vote  for  their  bitterest 
enemy,  nay,  even  to  consent  to  prostitute  the  virtue 
of  their  wives  and  daughters  to  the  pleasure  of  their 
hereditary  masters.  A  pitiful  picture,  truly,  but  one 
which  only  faintly  outlines  the  depth  of  the  de- 
gradation to  which  the  bulk  of  his  countrymen  had 
sunk.  And  yet  out  of  such  unpromising  material, 
out  of  a  nation  of  slaves,  would  O'Connell  create  a 
nation  of  freemen. 

"  Hereditary  bondsmen  !  know  ye  not, 
Who  would  be  free,  themselves  must  strike  the  blow  ?  " 

This  was  the  constant  refrain  of  all  his  speeches : 
for  the  reader  of  them  now  repeated  ad  nauseam. 
But  O'Connell  had  no  hesitation  in  repeating  him- 
self.    '*  It  is  not,"  he  said, 

"  by  advancing  a  political  truth  once,  or  twice,  or  even 
ten  times,  that  the  public  will  take  it  up  and  firmly  adopt 
it.  Incessant  repetition  is  required  to  impress  political 
truths  upon  the  public  mind.  Men,  by  always  hearing 
the  same  things,  insensibly  associate  them  with  received 
truisms.  They  find  the  facts  at  last  quietly  reposing  in  a 
comer  of  their  minds,  and  no  more  think  of  doubting 
them  than  if  they  formed  part  of  their  religious  belief." 

In  truth,  O'Connell  had  only  one  lesson  to  teach  ; 
but,  once  learned,  what  a  change,  what  a  revolution 
would  it  effect  in  the  lives  and  thoughts  of  Irish- 
men !  Would  they  ever  learn  "  themselves  to  strike 
the  blow  ?  "  Would  they  ever  have  the  courage  to 
cast  off  the  shackles  of  a  degrading  servitude  that 


1813]  Parliament  and  the  Catholic  Claims.    47 

lowered  them  to  the  level  of  beasts,  and  learn  to 
stand  erect  like  men  ?  The  time  was  coming.  As 
yet  the  agitation  had  only  touched  the  wealthier 
middle  class ;  the  bulk  of  the  nation  lay  steeped  in 
apathy  and  despair. 

Parliament  was  dissolved  on  29th  September.  The 
results  of  the  elections  in  Ireland  during  the  autumn 
confirmed  O'Connell's  apprehensions.  At  Cork, 
where  he  had  recently  spoken  amid  wild  applause, 
the  apathy  of  the  Catholics  had  lost  one  of  their 
staunchest  supporters,  Christopher  Hely  Hutchinson, 
his  seat ;  at  Newry  private  and  personal  interests  had 
prevailed  with  the  Catholics  to  return  an  Orangeman, 
and  elsewhere  the  recreancy  and  cowardice  of  wealthy 
members  of  their  body  had  told  with  damaging  ef- 
fect against  their  cause.  The  indignation  of  the 
Board  was  intense,  and  despite  the  warning  voice  of 
O'Connell  that  they  were  investing  themselves  with 
the  powers  of  an  irresponsible  inquisition,  and  scat- 
tering the  seeds  of  discord  widespread,  a  motion  was 
passed  on  28th  November,  declaring  that  such  persons 
as  had  deserted  the  tried  friends  of  the  Catholics  at 
the  late  general  election  were  no  longer  deserving  of 
their  confidence.  The  resolution,  as  O'Connell  pre- 
dicted, only  served  to  aggravate  the  situation  by 
causing  a  split  in  the  Board  itself.  "  One  would  im- 
agine," said  he,  "  that  we  really  were  at  a  loss  for 
enemies,  so  sedulous  do  we  appear  to  be  to  excite 
them  among  ourselves.  One  would  suppose  that 
Ireland  was  not  suflficiently  divided  and  distracted 
already,  but  that  division  and  dissension  in  the 
Catholic  Board  could  be  afforded  in  addition  and  as  a 


48  Daniel  O' Connell.  [I812- 

pastime."  After  working  infinite  mischief,  the  reso- 
lution was,  at  his  earnest  entreaty,  subsequently 
rescinded. 

Meanwhile  the  friends  of  tlie  Catholics  in  Parlia- 
ment were  employing  their  time  in  preparing  a  bill 
which,  if  it  did  not  extend  to  a  final  adjustment  of 
the  question,  was  thought  to  embody  all  those 
claims  which  the  Protestants  were  at  all  likely  under 
existing  circumstances  to  concede.  What  those  cir- 
cumstances were,  the  reader  will  easily  recall  for  him- 
self. In  18 12  Nappleon  was  at  the  height  of  his  power, 
and  the  head  of  the  Roman  Church  a  prisoner  in 
his  hands.  What  might  happen  if  Pius  VII.,  or  his 
successor,  should  lend  himself  to  promote  the  ambi- 
tious designs  of  the  Emperor  of  the  French  ?  The 
danger  was  perhaps  more  imaginary  than  real ;  but 
at  least  it  was  intelligible.  The  world  had  yet  to 
learn  that  if  in  spiritual  matters  the  Pope  could  com- 
mand the  implicit  and  unquestioning  obedience  of 
every  Irish  Roman  Catholic,  in  temporal  matters, 
in  affairs  touching  his  political  rights,  he  was  an  ab- 
solute cipher.  In  admitting  the  Catholics,  and  es- 
pecially the  Irish  Catholics,  within  the  pale  of  the 
constitution  the  majority  of  Englishmen  and  Scotch- 
men believed,  and  conscientiously  believed,  that  they 
were  putting  into  the  hands  of  their  deadliest  enemy 
a  weapon  to  destroy  the  constitution  itself.  They 
remembered  the  days  of  Queen  Mary,  the  massacre 
of  St.  Bartholomew,  the  Spanish  Armada,  the  Irish 
massacres  of  1641,  the  attempt  of  James  II.  to  sub- 
vert the  constitution,  the  persecutions  of  Tyrconnell, 
the   rebellion  of    1798  ;    they   forgot   the   anti-papal 


1813]  Parliament  and  the  Catholic  Claims.    49 

legislation  of  pre-Reformation  times,  the  loyalty  of 
the  Catholics  at  the  most  critical  periods  of  their 
history,  the  wars  of  extermination  against  the  Irish 
that  had  led  to  the  rising  in  '41,  the  ecclesiastical 
tyranny  of  the  Puritans,  the  transplantations  and 
transportations  of  the  Commonwealth,  the  deporta- 
tions and  sequestrations  under  the  penal  code,  the 
fiendish  outrages  of  the  Orangemen,  the  picketings, 
the  half-hangings  that  had  driven  the  most  abject 
peasantry  in  the  world  to  take  up  arms  in  their  own 
defence.  They  saw  only  the  result  ;^  they  overlooked 
the  causes  that  had  given  birth  to  it.  Visions  of  a 
popish  rising  still  occupied  their  imagination.  They 
believed  that  the  concession  of  the  Catholic  claims 
would  only  lead  to  the  establishment  of  a  Catholic 
tyranny,  and  that  themselves,  from  being  the  oppres- 
sors, would  become  the  oppressed.  They  did  not  be- 
lieve that  national  independence  was  as  dear  to  the 
Catholic  as  it  was  to  the  Protestant.  It  is  unwise  to 
sneer  at  their  fears.  Toleration  is  a  plant  of  slow 
growth.  Perhaps  in  an  Irish  parliament  these  fears 
would  have  carried  less  weight,  and  emancipation  have 
already  been  conceded  ;  but  the  question  had  been 
referred  to  an  assembly  of  which  the  great  majority 
knew  practically  nothing  of  the  country  for  which 
they  were  called  upon  to  legislate. 

That  an  assembly  so  constituted  should  have  con- 
sented to  pledge  itself  to  a  revision  of  the  laws 
affecting  the  Catholics  with  a  view  to  their  ameliora- 
tion, and  on  Grattan's  motion  to  have  reafifirmed  its 
determination  on  March  ist,  18 13,  was  a  great  step 
forward.     In  its  essential  features  the  Bill  to  which 


50  Daniel  O^Connell.  [1812- 

Parliament  was  asked  to  give  its  consent  was  practi- 
cally the  same  as  that  which  passed  into  law  sixteen 
years  later //wj  an  elaborate  oath  of  allegiance  to  be 
taken  by  all  Catholics,  whether  clergymen  or  lay- 
men. By  this  oath  the  Catholic  deposed  that  he 
would  support  the  Protestant  succession  and  the 
existing  state  of  Protestant  property,  would  discover 
all  plots  and  treasons  which  came  within  his  know- 
ledge, would  not  make  use  of  any  power  he  obtained 
in  the  state  either  to  its  injury  or  the  overthrow  of 
the  Protestant  Church,  and  would  assent  to  the 
nomination  of  no  Catholic  bishop  or  apostolic  vicar 
of  whose  loyalty  and  tranquil  disposition  he  was  not 
convinced.  The  Bill  was  read  a  first  time  on  30th 
April,  and  the  serious  consideration  of  it  deferred  for 
a  fortnight.  In  the  interval  it  underwent  a  serious 
alteration.  For  the  security  offered  by  the  above 
oath,  seeming  to  Canning  hardly  stringent  enough  to 
conciliate  the  more  timorous  Protestants,  he  per- 
suaded Grattan  to  consent  to  the  addition  of  certain 
clauses  establishing  a  board  of  commissioners  having 
power  to  inspect  all  correspondence  with  Rome  re- 
ferring to  episcopal  nominations,  and  to  veto  the  ap- 
pointment of  any  bishop  whose  loyalty  might  be 
suspected. 

In  Ireland  the  initial  stages  of  the  Bill  were  being 
watched  with  intense  interest.  The  day  following 
its  introduction,  the  Catholic  Board  met.  Reporters 
were  excluded  ;  but  a  summary  of  its  proceedings 
communicated  by  O'Connell  appeared  in  the  Evening 
Post  on  4th  May.  The  summary  expressed  his  view 
of  the  situation.    Leaving  the  ecclesiastical  provisions 


1813]  Parliament  and  the  Catholic  Claims.    51 

"where  they  might  be  safely  confided — in  the  hands 
of  the  Catholic  hierarchy  " — and  confining  himself 
to  its  civil  enactments,  he  pronounced  the  Bill  to 
be  restricted  in  principle  (omitting  the  Protestant 
dissenters  entirely  from  its  consideration),  doubtful 
in  its  wording,  and  inadequate  to  that  full  relief 
which  had  been  expected.  His  conduct  in  trans- 
mitting the  report  to  the  newspapers  was  regarded 
by  many  as  indiscreet,  especially  by  such  as,  in  their 
eagerness  to  clutch  at  the  benefits  conferred  by  the 
Bill,  hoped  by  their  silence  to  give  an  appearance  of 
acquiescence  in  its  provisions,  and  at  a  subsequent 
meeting  of  the  Board  an  attempt  was  made  to  cen- 
sure him  by  submitting  a  resolution  to  the  effect 
that  on  the  date  in  question  "  no  motion  was  enter- 
tained by  the  Board,  relative  to  the  Catholic  Bill, 
nor  any  resolution  adopted."  This  O'Connell  op- 
posed on  the  ground  that  it  was  manifestly  untrue  ; 
but  for  the  sake  of  harmony  he  offered,  if  anyone 
would  move  "  that  the  Board  has  not  hitherto  come 
to  any  resolution  declaratory  of  its  sentiments  on 
the  Catholic  Bill,"  to  second  it  himself.  His  pro- 
posal was  adopted  by  a  small  majority.  But  the 
dispute  was  symptomatic  of  graver  dissensions  in 
the  near  future. 
•  The  fact  was,  O'Connell  knew  that  the  Board  was 
divided  on  the  question  of  the  securities,  and  had 
deliberately  furnished  the  report  to  the  Evening  Post 
with  the  express  object  of  forcing  the  hand  of  the 
vetoists.  No  formally  worded  motion  in  condemna- 
tion of  the  Bill  had  indeed  been  passed  by  the 
Board,  but  the  weight  of  opinion  had  been  decidedly 


52  Daniel  O^Connell.  [I8t2- 

against  it,  and  it  was  well  that  the  public  should 
know  it.  Silence  at  such  a  time  was  sure  to  be  mis- 
interpreted as  approbation.  But  it  was  not  so  much 
the  civil  enactments  as  (after  the  addition  of  the 
Canning  clauses)  the  ecclesiastical  provisions  that 
troubled  him.  The  acceptance  or  rejection  of  them 
had,  as  he  expressed  it,  been  left  to  the  clergy  them- 
selves, but  not  without  a  word  of  warning,  that  if 
they  decided  in  favour  of  them  he  would  still  re- 
serve to  himself  the  right  of  protesting  against  any 
measure  that  might  tarnish  the  last  relic  of  national 
independence — the  last  fragment  of  the  ancient 
pride  and  greatness  of  Imperial  Ireland — the  inde- 
pendence of  her  Church.  / 

The  warning  was  not  neglected.  On  27th  May,  the 
Irish  prelates  decided  that  the  ecclesiastical  clauses 
were  utterly  incompatible  with  the  discipline  of  the 
Roman  Catholic  Church  and  could  not  be  acceded  to 
without  incurring  the  guilt  of  schism.'  O'Connell 
did  not  try  to  conceal  his  satisfaction  at  the  result. 
In  one  queirter,  at  least,  unanimity  prevailed.  When 
the  Board  next  met,  on  29th  May,  he  rose  to  propose 
a  special  vote  of  thanks  to  the  bishops  for  their 
patriotic  conduct. 

"  The  Catholic  prelates  of  Ireland,"  said  he,  and  his 
voice  rang  triumphandy  through  the  room,  "  de- 
serve your  eternal  gratitude.  They  have  stood  forward 
manfully  and  without  disguise  to  assist  you  in  getting 
rid  of  a  Bill  which  purported  to  be  for  your  relief,  but 
which,  in  reality,  would  have  perpetuated  your  degra- 
dation and  slavery.  Had  they  consulted  their  worldly 
interest  they  would  have  supported  the  Bill ;  but  the 


1813]  Parliament  and  the  Catholic  Claims.    53 

sacred  calls  of  duty  made  them  reject  such  considera- 
tions with  contempt.  And  they  were  right,  most  mani- 
festly right,  in  rejecting  it.  Nothing  but  mischief  and 
degradation  could  have  resulted  from  the  commission 
proposed  in  the  Bill.  For  let  them  consider  the  proba- 
ble constitution  of  the  proposed  board  of  ecclesiastical 
commissioners  in  the  hands  of  the  Duke  of  Richmond — 
of  that  man  whose  administration  had  been  signalised 
by  a  sullen  and  sulky  opposition  to  the  Catholics  of 
Ireland,  and  whose  most  distinguishing  characteristic 
as  a  chief  governor  was  that  he  continued  to  hate  the 
Papists,  he  knew  not  why  nor  wherefore.  For  president 
they  might  safely  reckon  on  that  ludicrous  enemy  of 
theirs,  who  had  got,  in  jest,  the  name  he  deserved  in 
good  earnest  of  '  Orange  Peel ' — a  raw  youth  squeezed 
out  of  the  workings  of  I  know  not  what  factory  in  Eng- 
land, and  sent  over  to  Ireland  before  he  had  got  rid  of 
the  foppery  of  perfumed  handkerchiefs  and  thin  shoes, 
upon  the  simple  ground  that,  having  vindicated  the  mur- 
derous Walcheren  expedition,  he  was  thought  to  be  a 
lad  ready  to  vindicate  anything  and  everything.  After 
him  would  come  my  Lord  Manners,  a  gentleman  cer- 
tainly, but  quite  as  ignorant  of  the  wants,  wishes,  feel- 
ings, and  dispositions  of  the  Irish  people,  as  he  was  the 
day  before  he  arrived  in  the  country.  Too  decent  to 
inspire  any  disgust,  too  polite  to  give  personal  offence, 
too  weak  to  discriminate  between  the  artful  misrepre- 
sentations of  bigotry  and  the  plain  language  of  truth, 
with  the  natural  propensity  of  a  small  mind  to  the 
practical  details  of  intolerance,  he  was  in  fact  such  a 
man  as  bigotry  would  select  as  her  choicest  instrument. 
With  him  was  sure  to  be  associated  his  Grace  the  Duke 
of  Richmond's  special  adviser  in  ecclesiastical  affairs, 
the  Right  Hon.  Dr.  Duigenan,  appointed  for  no  other 


54  Daniel  O'Connell.  [I812- 

reason  than  being,  like  the  tanner's  dog,  chained  up  by 
day  and  let  loose  by  night,  he  was  particularly  fitted  for 
the  task  of  worrying  popish  bishops.  Nor  was  William 
Saurin,  the  Attorney-General,  likely  to  be  wanting,  and 
what  a  day  would  that  be  for  Ireland  when  the  grand- 
son of  a  French  Huguenot  should  sit  in  judgment  on 
the  Catholic  hierarchy  of  the  land  !  From  this  disgrace 
the  bishops  had  saved  them,  and  theirs,  without  any 
regard  to  the  event,  should  be  the  praise  and 
glory." 

As  a  matter  of  fact,  the  action  of  the  Catholic 
episcopacy  had  nothing  whatever  to  do  with  the 
defeat  of  the  Bill,  which  had  been  dropped  in  con- 
sequence of  the  rejection  in  committee  of  the  first 
clause  in  it,  admitting  the  Catholics  to  sit  in  Parlia- 
ment, two  days  before  the  bishops  had  pronounced' 
against  it.  But  in  his  strictures  on  the  probable 
constitution  and  action  of  the  commission  O'Connell 
hit  the  nail  directly  on  the  head.  "  I  perceive," 
wrote  Peel  to  the  Duke  of  Richmond  on  21st  May, 
"  that  the  Chief  Secretary  is  made  President  of 
the  Catholic  Cabinet  which  his  Majesty  is  in  future 
to  have,  and  in  his  absence  the  senior  Privy  Council- 
lor ;  so  that  it  is  possible  Dr.  Duigenan  may  pre- 
side." Better  evidence  as  to  the  insidious  character 
of  the  Bill  O'Connell  could  not  have  desired.  But 
the  Board  was  hard  to  convince.  The  loaves  and 
fishes  of  office  were  a  bait  too  tempting  to  be  re- 
sisted by  many.  Despite  O'Connell's  exhortations 
to  unanimity,  they  insisted  on  dividing,  and  it  was 
only  after  a  fierce  struggle  that  the  vote  of  thanks 
to  the  bishops  was  carried  by  61  to  20. 


SIR    ROBERT    PEEL 

FROM   A   PAINTING   BY    JOHN    UNNELL,    IN    THE    NATIONAL   PORTRAIT   GALLERY 


1813]  Parliament  and  the  Catholic  Claims.    55 

The  die  was  cast.  Henceforth  there  could  be  no 
question  of  a  compromise.  The  battle  of  the  securi- 
ties must  be  fought  out  till  one  side  or  the  other 
gave  way.  From  that  day  forward  the  party  that 
favoured  the  veto  ceased  to  attend  the  meetings  of 
the  Board,  and  with  their  withdrawal  the  prospect  of 
immediate  emancipation  receded  into  the  distance. 
It  was  a  bitter  draught  to  drink,  and  no  man  felt  the 
bitterness  of  it  more  than  did  O'Connell.  On  his 
devoted  head  fell  all  the  abuse  and  contumely  of 
disappointed  ambition.  But  not  for  one  moment 
did  he  quail  before  the  storm  of  angry  passion  that 
raged  around  him.  What  recked  he  of  the  animosity 
of  men  who  for  their  own  private  advantage  would 
have  compromised  the  independence  of  their  Church 
— "  of  men  who  discounted  their  consciences  and 
obtained  money  by  their  pretensions  of  piety  "  ? 

The  Bill  was  gone — for  that  he  thanked  God  ;• 
but  the  star  of  hope  still  shone,  and  emancipation, 
if  deferred  for  a  time,  would  come,  when  it  came, 
without  any  such  disgraceful  conditions.  That  come 
it  must,  he  never  for  a  moment  doubted.  "  Yes," 
he  assured  the  great  assembly  of  his  countrymen 
that,  at  his  invitation,  met  together  in  Fishamble 
Street  theatre  on  15th  June,  to  render  thanks  for 
their  deliverance,  and  to  renew  their  petition  for  the 
total  and  unqualified  repeal  of  the  penal  laws, — 

"  Yes,  the  hour  of  your  emancipation  is  at  hand  ;  you 
will,  you  must  be,  emancipated,  not  by  the  operation  of 
any  force  or  violence,  which  is  unnecessary,  and  would  be 
illegal  on  your  part  ;  but  by  the  repetition  of  your  con- 
stitutional demands  by  petition,  and  still  more  by  the 


56  Daniel  O'Conjiell.  [I812- 

pressure  of  circumstances  and  the  great  progress  of 
events." 

Meanwhile,  let  their  rulers  delay  emancipation  but 
yet  a  little  while,  let  them  allow  their  discussions  to 
continue,  let  them  suffer  their  agitators  to  proceed, 
let  the  love  of  country  and  even  the  desire  of 
notoriety  be  permitted  to  excite  fresh  agitators,  and 
above  all,  let  the  popular  mind  become  accustomed 
to  the  consideration  of  public  subjects  and  to  the 
vehemence  of  political  contest,  and  they  knew  little 
of  human  nature  who  imagined  that  with  a  breath 
they  could  still  the  tempest  they  should  thus  have 
excited,  or  be  able  to  quiet  a  people  whom  they 
should  thus  have  roused  to  a  sense  of  their  wrongs 
and  to  a  knowledge  of  their  own  strength  and  im- 
portance. Their  ultimate  triumph  rested  with  them- 
selves. Nothing  but  their  own  folly  or  crime  could 
withhold  it  from  them.  But  alas  for  Ireland ! 
Her  liberties  depended  upon  the  prudence  of  a 
people  of  the  most  inflammable  passions,  goaded 
almost  to  madness  by  Orange  insults  and  oppressions, 
and  exposed  at  the  same  time  to  the  secret  seduc- 
tions of  the  agents  and  emissaries  of  those  very 
Orange  oppressors.  Let  them  yield  to  these  seduc- 
tions, let  them  commit  a  single  crime,  a  single  illegal 
act,  and  the  Habeas  Corpus  Act  would  again  be 
suspended,  the  reign  of  torture  and  of  terror  would 
again  be  renewed,  and  the  cause  of  Ireland  would  be 
lost,  and  lost  for  ever.  For  himself,  he  would  tell 
them  that,  should  ever  that  fatal  day  arrive,  they 
would  find  him  arrayed  against  them.  There  would 
not  be  so  heavy  a  heart ;  but  there  would  not  be 


1813]  Parliament  and  the  Catholic  Claims.    57 

a   more   ready   hand    to   sustain    the    constitution 
against  every  enemy. 

It  was  a  memorable — an  epoch-making — speech  in 
the  history  of  Ireland.  Often  enough  before  had 
Irishmen  heard  their  wrongs  dilated  upon  with  the 
object  of  urging  them  into  deeds  of  violence  and  of 
seeking  vengeance  with  their  own  hands.  Often 
had  the  example  of  revolutionary  France  been  held 
up  before  them  as  worthy  of  imitation.  It  was 
something  new  to  be  told  that  however  grievous 
their  wrongs,  however  intolerable  their  grievances, 
yet,  for  the  sake  of  the  constitution  they  must  learn 
to  bear  them  like  men,  seeking  for  redress  only  by 
such  means  and  through  such  channels  as  were 
afforded  by  the  constitution  itself.  Burke  and  Grat- 
tan,  it  is  true,  had  preached  the  same  doctrine,  but 
their  words  had  reached  the  few  and  educated  only. 
O'Connell  had  another  audience  before  him.  He 
was  speaking  to  the  Irish  nation,  to  a  nation  sorely 
tried  by  oppression,  yet  struggling  under  grievous 
disadvantages  towards  unity  and  freedom.  To  him, 
it  was  no  mere  question  of  theoretical  politics,  but  a 
matter  of  Hfe  and  death.  None  knew  better  than  he 
did  how  prone  his  countrymen  were  to  deeds  of  vio- 
lence ;  but  he  knew  the  power  of  England  as  well,  and 
the  benefits  of  the  connection  with  her.  Not  separa- 
tion— the  charge  that  he  wished  for  separation  was 
"  false  as  hell  "  ;  but  admission  into  the  constitution 
and  the  restoration  of  national  independence  were 
what  he  wanted.  Let  his  countrymen  cease  from 
vainly  appealing  to  the  sword,  from  midnight  con- 
spiracies,  from    brutal    murders    and    houghing    of 


58 


Daniel  O^Comiell. 


[1812-1813] 


harmless  animals ;  let  them  learn  to  reverence  the 
constitution,  to  respect  the  law,  and  as  surely  as  the 
sun  would  rise  to-morrow  so,  in  the  course  of  events, 
would  their  freedom  be  realised ;  and  not  their 
freedom  only,  but  their  national  independence  as 
well.  It  was  a  strange  speech  to  issue  from  the  lips 
of  a  "  professional  agitator,"  and  all  the  stranger 
when  one  recalls  the  circumstances  under  which  it 
was  delivered. 


CHAPTER  IV. 

IN  DEFENCE   OF  THE   LIBERTY   OF  THE   PRESS. 

1813. 

OF  all  the  weapons  in  the  arsenal  of  constitu- 
tional agitation,  the  most  powerful  is  un- 
doubtedly that  of  the  journalistic  press.  A 
free  press  is  at  once  the  sign  and  guarantee  of  free 
government.  It  is  the  very  conscience  of  a  nation. 
To  bridle  it  or  to  corrupt  it  is  an  act  of  despotism  so 
atrocious  as  to  deserve  the  execration  of  civilisation. 
Fortunately,  it  is  also  an  act  of  which  despotism 
alone  is  capable ;  for  where  the  forms,  at  least,  of 
constitutional  government  are  respected,  however 
much  the  spirit  of  it  may  be  violated,  it  is  impossible 
altogether  to  destroy  the  independence  of  the  press. 
That  in  Ireland,  where  government  has  more  often 
than  not  found  itself  in  direct  antagonism  to  the 
wishes  of  the  bulk  of  the  population,  the  corruption 
of  the  press  should  have  formed  a  principal  means  of 
controlling  public  opinion  is  unfortunately  only  too 
true.  Equally  true  is  it  that  government  has  seldom 
been  at  a  loss  to  find  instruments  like  the  notorious 
"  Sham  Squire,"  the  associate  of  spies  and  informers, 

59 


6o  Daniel  O^Connell.  [i8i3 

ready,  for  this  or  that  consideration,  to  prostitute 
their  abilities  in  its  service.  On  the  other  hand 
there  have  not  been  wanting  journalists,  who  have 
never  worshipped  in  the  house  of  Rimmon,  who 
have  never  forfeited  their  title  to  self-respect,  who 
through  good  and  ill  report,  through  fine  and  im- 
prisonment, have  never  faltered  in  the  path  of  duty. 
Of  such  was  John  Magee,  the  elder,  the  founder, 
proprietor,  and  editor  of  the  Dublin  Evening  Post, 
a  newspaper  which,  with  perhaps  the  largest  cir- 
culation of  any  in  Ireland,  had  advocated  with 
unprecedented  fearlessness  the  cause  of  national 
independence  in  the  days  preceding  the  Union,  and 
which,  now  in  the  hands  of  his  son,  had  become  the 
chief  organ  of  Roman  Catholic  opinion. 

On  3d  June,  the  Evening  Post  announced  to  its 
readers  that  its  proprietor  had  been  committed  to 
Kilmainham  gaol  on  a  charge  of  publishing  a  libel 
against  the  Duke  of  Richmond.  This,  the  paper 
reminded  its  readers,  was  the  third  Dublin  printer 
that  had  been  imprisoned  under  his  Grace's  "  con- 
ciliatory government."  The  announcement  created 
an  extraordinary  sensation.  Everyone  guessed  that 
the  alleged  libel  was  a  mere  pretext  for  a  determined 
effort  on  the  part  of  the  government  to  silence  the 
chief  organ  of  the  Catholic  party;  and  the  guess,  as 
now  appears  from  Peel's  secret  correspondence  with 
the  Speaker  of  the  House  of  Commons,  hit  the 
mark.  The  article  for  which  Magee  was  to  be 
prosecuted  was  the  work  of  a  prominent  member  of 
the  Catholic  Board,  Dennis  Scully,  the  author  of  an 
important  work  on  the  penal  laws,  and  of  whom  it 


18131  The  Liberty  of  the  Press.  6i 

was  said  that  he  was  so  much  of  a  lawyer  that  "  he 
could  not  take  his  tea  without  a  stratagem."  It  con- 
sisted of  nine  columns  in  three  successive  numbers 
of  the  Evening  Post,  and  purported  to  be  a  review  of 
the  Duke  of  Richmond's  administration,  with  the 
object  of  warning  his  successor  from  pursuing  the 
errors  of  his  Grace's  conduct.  The  device  was  an 
old  one  for  airing  the  nation's  grievances,  and  one 
which  Grattan  himself,  as  every  reader  of  Bara- 
tariana  knows,  had  in  early  days  practised  against 
the  Marquis  of  Harcourt  in  language  far  more 
scathing  than  anything  that  ever  issued  from  Dennis 
Scully's  pen.  For  the  prosecution,  William  Saurin, 
the  Attorney-General,  and  for  upwards  of  a  quarter 
of  a  century  the  virtual  ruler  of  Ireland,  was  re- 
sponsible. 

Saurin,  the  descendant  of  a  Huguenot  refugee, 
was  a  sound  lawyer.  Without  possessing  superior 
abilities  of  any  sort,  he  had  raised  himself  by  studi- 
ous application  to  the  top  of  his  profession.  He 
had  waited  long  for  promotion.  His  early  career 
had  been  one  of  hardship  and  disappointment.  In 
his  opposition  to  the  Union  he  had  proceeded  to 
such  lengths  as  to  incur  the  censure  of  the  Marquis 
Cornwallis,  and  narrowly  to  escape  the  loss  of  his 
silk  gown.  But  after  the  Union  his  conduct  had 
been  most  exemplary,  and  his  reward  had  been  pro- 
portionate to  his  loyalty.  Men  wondered  at  the 
completeness  of  his  conversion  ;  but  there  was  really 
little  cause  for  wonder.  The  man  who  had  threat- 
ened to  raise  a  rebellion  rather  than  submit  to  the 
extinction  of  the  national  legislature  was  the  same 


62  Daniel  O'Connell.  neia 

who  was  now  prosecuting  John  Magee,  and  seeking 
by  every  means  within  his  power  to  suppress  the 
Catholic  agitation.  His  opinions  had  not  changed 
one  iota.  He  was  just  as  good  a  patriot  in  1813 
as  he  had  been  in  1799 !  ^^^  ^'^  patriotism  had  never 
gone  so  far  as  to  include  the  Roman  Catholics.  He 
was  an  ascendancy  man  pure  and  simple,  and  had 
been  so  all  his  life.  To  say  that  he  hated  the  Catho- 
lics individually  is  perhaps  doing  him  injustice; 
he  rather  pitied  and  despised  them.  But  he  hated 
Roman  Catholicism  with  a  fierce  and  bitter  hatred, 
because  he  feared  it.  Protestantism,  in  his  opinion, 
was  synonymous  with  liberty,  Catholicism  with 
slavery.  To  tolerate  Catholicism  was  to  palter  with 
his  conscience  and  to  betray  the  cause  of  truth  and 
righteousness.  Beliefs  such  as  these  naturally  ren- 
dered him  a  formidable  antagonist  to  the  Catholics, 
while  the  high  and  indeed  irreproachable  character 
he  bore  in  private  life  added  a  dignity  to  the  narrow- 
ness of  his  creed,  and  gave  to  his  opinions  an 
overwhelming  influence  with  his  colleagues  in  the 
administration. 

Such  was  the  man  who  had  urged  the  prosecu- 
tion of  the  editor  of  the  Evening  Post,  and  it  was 
with  a  certain  grim  pleasure  that  he  now  undertook 
the  task  incumbent  upon  him,  as  Attorney-General, 
of  crushing  his  victim.  Of  the  result  he  had  no 
doubt,  and  indeed,  so  far  as  it  was  possible,  without 
absolutely  overriding  the  law  itself,  he  had  taken 
every  precaution  before  the  trial  commenced  to  se- 
cure a  conviction.  In  fact,  with  Judge  Downes  on 
the  bench,  and  a  well-packed  jury  of   Orangemen, 


1813]  The  Liberty  of  the  Press.  63 

there  could  hardly  be  any  reasonable  doubt  as  to 
what  the  result  would  be.  But  this  was  not  to 
prove  an  ordinary  trial.  On  both  sides  there  was  a 
formidable  array  of  counsel,  but  the  defence  rested 
practically  with  O'Connell,  as  the  prosecution  with 
the  Attorney-General.  Both  Magee  and  O'Connell 
knew  that  unless  a  miracle  was  worked  a  conviction 
was  absolutely  certain.  To  conciliate  the  jury  was 
merely  wasted  energy,  but  the  opportunity  of  at- 
tacking the  Attorney-General,  and  through  him  the 
government,  whose  mouthpiece  he  was,  and  of  vin- 
dicating the  Catholic  claims,  was  one  not  to  be  lost. 
The  trial  began  on  26th  July,  and  lasted  two  days. 
Each  day,  long  before  the  hour  when  Chief-Justice 
Downes  took  his  seat,  the  Court  of  King's  Bench 
was  crowded  to  suffocation.  It  was  shortly  after 
eleven  o'clock  on  the  second  day  that  O'Connell 
rose  to  address  the  jury. 

He  had,  he  said,  consented  to  the  adjournment 
the  previous  day  out  of  a  natural  impulse  to  post- 
pone a  painful  duty.  Still  he  did  not  regret  the  de- 
lay. The  farrago  of  helpless  absurdity  with  which 
the  Attorney-General  had  regaled  them,  and  which 
yesterday  had  roused  his  resentment  and  disgust, 
now  only  moved  him  to  contempt.  In  that  dis- 
course— a  confused  and  disjointed  tissue  of  bigotry 
amalgamated  with  congenial  vulgarity  —  the  At- 
torney-General accused  his  client  of  using  Billings- 
gate, and  he  accused  him  of  it  in  language  suited 
exclusively  for  that  meridian.  It  was,  indeed,  as- 
tonishing how  he  could  have  preserved  that  dia- 
lect in  all  its  native  purity,  seeing  that  for  thirty 


64  Daniel  O'ConnelL  [1813 

years  he  had  had  the  honour  to  belong  to  the  Irish 
Bar — to  that  Bar  at  which  he  must  have  listened  to 
a  Burston,  a  Ponsonby,  and  a  Curran ;  which  still 
contained  a  Plunket,  a  Ball,  and,  despite  of  politics, 
he  would  add  a  Bushe.  But,  dismissing  the  style, 
he  would  ask  their  attention  to  the  matter  of  the 
Attorney-General's  discourse.  The  matter  he  would 
divide  into  two  parts:  the  first,  and  by  far  the 
larger  portion,  relating  to  topics  wholly  irrelevant 
to  the  prosecution,  the  second,  and  infinitely  smaller, 
relating  to  the  subject  matter  of  the  indictment 
they  were  called  upon  to  try. 

The  extraneous  part  of  his  discourse,  in  which  he 
had  touched  upon,  and  disfigured,  a  variety  of  topics, 
was  distinguished  by  two  leading  features — a  dull 
and  reproving  sermon  on  the  way  in  which  the  de- 
fence was  being  conducted,  and  a  political  diatribe 
against  the  Catholics.  For  the  first,  he  would  tell 
the  Attorney-General  that  he  and  his  colleagues  could 
cheerfully  afford  to  pardon  the  vain  presumption 
that  made  him  offer  them  his  counsel.  For  the  rest, 
he  had  made  it  the  rigid  rule  of  his  professional  con- 
duct never  to  mingle  his  politics  with  his  forensic 
duties,  and  if  in  the  present  instance  he  appeared  to 
be  departing  from  this  rule,  he  would  remind  the 
jury  that  he  was  compelled  to  follow  the  Attorney- 
General  into  grounds  which,  had  he  been  wise,  he 
would  carefully  have  avoided.  It  was  possible  he 
might  have  misunderstood  the  Attorney-General,  for 
there  was,  he  knew,  no  relying  on  his  words  for  what 
he  meant.  But,  as  he  gathered  from  his  words,  he 
had  talked  of  the  Catholics  having  imbibed  principles 


1813]  The  Liberty  of  the  Press.  65 

of  a  seditious,  treasonable,  and  revolutionary  na- 
ture. It  was  impossible  to  refute  such  charges  in 
the  language  of  dignity  and  temper ;  but  he  was  a 
profligate  liar  who  so  asserted,  knowing,  as  he  must 
do,  that  the  whole  tenor  of  their  conduct  confuted 
the  assertion.     For  what  was  it  they  sought  ? 

"  Pray,  Mr.  O'Connell,"  interrupted  the  Chief  Just- 
ice at  this  point,  "  pray,  what  can  this  have  to  do 
with  the  question  the  jury  are  to  try?" 

"  My  lord,"  replied  O'Connell,  "  you  heard  the  At- 
torney-General traduce  and  calumniate  us.  You 
heard  him  with  patience  and  with  temper.  Listen 
now  to  our  vindication." 

What  was  it,  he  asked,  that  they,  the  Catholics, 
sought  ?  What  was  it  that  they  incessantly  and  even 
clamorously  petitioned  for  ?  Why,  to  be  allowed 
to  partake  of  the  advantages  of  the  constitution.  It 
was  said  they  wished  to  destroy  it.  Would  they,  if 
they  wished  to  overturn  it,  exert  themselves,  through 
calumny  and  in  peril,  to  obtain  a  portion  of  its  bless- 
ings? Strange,  inconsistent  voice  of  calumny  !  The 
Attorney-General — "  that  wisest  and  best  of  men," 
as  his  colleague  the  Solicitor-General  called  him  in 
his  presence — the  Attorney-General  boasted  of  his 
triumph  over  Pope  and  popery.  "  I  have  put  down 
the  Catholic  Committee,"  said  he ;  "I  will  put 
down,  at  my  own  good  time,  the  Catholic  Board." 
The  boast  was  partly  historical,  partly  prophetical. 
He  was  wrong  in  his  history,  and  mistaken  in  his 
prophecy.  He  did  not  put  down  the  Catholic  Com- 
mittee. We  ourselves  gave  up  that  name  the  moment 
that  it  was  confessed  that  the  Attorney-General's 


66  Daniel  O'Connell. 


[1813 


polemico-legal  controversy  had  dwindled  into  a 
mere  dispute  about  words.  He  told  us  that  in  the 
English  language  "pretence"  meant "  purpose."  Had 
it  been  French,  we  might  have  ventured  to  respect 
his  judgment ;  but  in  point  of  English  we  presumed 
to  differ  with  him.  We  told  him  "  purpose,"  good 
Mr.  Attorney-General,  is  just  the  reverse  of  "  pre- 
tence." The  quarrel  grew  warm  and  animated.  We 
appealed  to  common-sense,  to  the  grammar,  and  to 
the  dictionary.  Common-sense,  grammar,  and  the 
dictionary  decided  in  our  favour.  He  brought  his 
appeal  to  this  court,  and  his  lordship  and  your 
brethren,  gentlemen  of  the  jury,  decided  that  in 
point  of  law  "  pretence  "  does  mean  "  purpose." 

Next  "  this  wisest  and  best  of  men  "  glorifies  him- 
self in  the  prospect  of  pulling  down  the  Catholic 
Board.  For  the  present,  indeed,  he  tells  you  that, 
much  as  he  hates  the  Papists,  it  is  unnecessary  for 
him  to  crush  our  Board,  because  it  serves  only  to 
damage  their  cause.  He  expresses  the  very  idea  of 
the  Roman  Domitian,  who  amused  his  days  by  tor- 
turing men,  his  evenings  by  impaling  flies.  "  Fool," 
said  he,  to  a  courtier  that  caught  a  fly  for  his  amuse- 
ment— "  fool,  to  give  thyself  so  much  trouble :  seest 
thou  not  that  it  was  about  to  bum  itself  to  death  in 
the  candle?"  "Oh!  rare  Attorney-General!  Oh! 
best  and  wisest  of  men !  Illegal  violence,  it  is  true, 
may  put  down  the  Board  ;  force  may  effectuate  it ; 
but  your  hopes  and  his  will  be  defeated  if  he  at- 
tempts it  by  any  course  of  law.  His  religious  preju- 
dices obscure  his  reason.  I  tell  him  he  knows  not 
the  law  if  he  thinks  as  he  says ;    and  if  he  thinks  so, 


18131  The  Liberty  of  the  Press.  67 

I  tell  him,  to  his  beard,  that  he  is  not  honest  in  not 
having  sooner  prosecuted  us,  and  I  challenge  him  to 
that  prosecution." 

But,  to  come  to  the  subject  of  the  indictment.  The 
libel  of  which  his  client  was  charged  was  not  a  libel 
against  the  Duke  of  Richmond  in  his  private  capac- 
ity ;  it  was  not  a  seditious  libel ;  and  it  was  not  al- 
leged to  be  false.  He  would  trouble  them  with  a 
few  reflections  on  the  law  of  libel.  It  was  deeply  to 
be  lamented  that  the  art  of  printing  was  unknown  at 
an  earlier  period  of  history.  If  at  the  time  when  the 
barons  wrung  the  Magna  Charta — that  simple  but 
sublime  charter  of  liberty — from  a  timid  and  perfid- 
ious sovereign  the  press  had  existed,  it  would  surely 
have  been  the  first  care  of  those  friends  of  freedom 
to  have  established  a  principle  of  liberty  for  it  to  rest 
upon  which  might  resist  every  future  assault.  Their 
simple  and  unsophisticated  understandings  could 
never  have  been  brought  to  comprehend  the  legal 
subtleties  by  which  it  was  argued  that  falsehood  is 
useful  and  innocent,  and  truth,  the  emanation  and 
the  type  of  heaven,  a  crime.  Unfortunately,  when 
the  art  of  printing  had  been  invented,  its  value  to 
every  sufferer,  its  terror  to  every  oppressor,  was  soon 
obvious,  and  means  were  speedily  adopted  to  pre- 
vent its  salutary  effects.  The  Star  Chamber  was 
either  created,  or  at  least  enlarged  and  brought  into 
activity.  It  was  particularly  vigilant  over  the  infant 
struggles  of  the  press.  A  code  of  laws  became  neces- 
sary to  govern  the  new  enemy  to  prejudice  and  op- 
pression. For  this  purpose  it  adopted  the  civil  law, 
the  law  of  Rome,  not  the  law  at  the  period  of  her 


68  Daniel  O' Co7inelL 


[1813 


liberty  and  glory,  but  the  law  which  was  promul- 
gated when  she  fell  into  slavery  and  disgrace,  and 
recognised  the  principle  that  the  will  of  the  prince 
was  the  rule  of  law.  From  the  Star  Chamber  the 
prevention  and  punishment  of  libels  descended  to 
the  courts  of  common  law,  and  with  the  power  they 
seemed  to  have  inherited  much  of  the  spirit  of  that 
tribunal.  Servility  at  the  bar  and  profligacy  on  the 
bench  had  not  been  wanting  to  aid  every  construc- 
tion unfavourable  to  freedom,  and  at  length  it  was 
taken  as  granted,  and  as  clear  law,  that  truth  and  false- 
hood were  quite  immaterial  circumstances,  constitut- 
ing no  part  of  either  guilt  or  innocence.  It  was  a 
revolting  doctrine,  and  though  his  own  opinion  car- 
ried little  weight,  he  would  say  that  in  the  discussion 
of  public  subjects  and  of  the  administration  of  pub- 
lic men  truth  was  a  duty  and  not  a  crime. 

Such  a  discussion  was  the  alleged  libel  against  the 
Duke  of  Richmond,  which  they  were  to  consider  sen- 
tence by  sentence.  The  Attorney-General  had  at- 
tached much  importance  to  the  following  paragraph  : 

"  If  the  administration  of  the  Duke  of  Richmond  had 
been  conducted  with  more  than  ordinary  talent,  its 
errors  might  in  some  degree  have  been  atoned  for  by 
its  ability,  and  the  people  of  Ireland,  though  they  might 
have  much  to  regret,  yet  would  have  something  to  ad- 
mire ;  but  truly,  after  the  gravest  consideration,  they 
must  find  themselves  at  a  loss  to  discover  any  striking 
feature  in  his  Grace's  administration  that  makes  it 
superior  to  the  worst  of  his  predecessors." 

He  had  been  told  that  the  mischief  lay  in  the  art  of 
the  sentence.      Why,  all  that  it  asserted  was  that  it 


1813]  The  Liberty  of  the  Press.  69 

was  difficult  to  discover  the  striking  features  that 
distinguished  the  Duke  of  Richmond's  administra- 
tion from  former  bad  administrations.  In  the 
writer's  opinion  it  was  an  untalented  and  silly  ad- 
ministration. The  view  might  be  false  and  mis- 
taken, but  it  was  no  crime  to  say  so.  And  if  it  was 
true,  if  it  had  been  a  foolish  administration,  could  it 
be  an  offence  to  say  so?  Was  the  liberty  of  the 
press,  about  which  the  Attorney-General  had  dis- 
canted,  to  be  confined  to  flattery? 

"  They,"  that  is  to  say  the  Duke's  predecessors, 
not  the  Duke  himself,  as  the  Attorney-General 
ludicrously  asserted,  "  they  insulted,  they  oppressed, 
they  murdered,  and  they  deceived."  Was  not  this  a 
mere  statement  of  historical  facts  ?  He  would  refer 
them  to  Leland  and  Hume.  How  had  these  histori- 
ans spoken  of  the  conduct  of  the  Earl  of  Essex 
towards  Phelim  O'Neill,  of  Lord  Grey  towards  the 
garrison  at  Smerwick,  of  Strafiford  in  the  matter  of 
the  defective  titles  ?  Had  the  publishers  of  Leland 
and  Hume  been  prosecuted  for  libel  ?  Was  his  client 
to  be  convicted  for  saying  of  the  Duke  of  Richmond 
that  he  had  neither  great  crimes  nor  great  virtues : 
that  he  did  not  murder  like  Essex  and  Grey,  but 
also  did  not  render  any  splendid  services  like 
them? 

"  The  profligate,  unprincipled  Westmoreland." 
Some  of  the  jury,  he  noticed,  were  Bible  distributors 
and  suppressors  of  vice.  He  would  address  him- 
self to  them.  What  would  they  call  profligacy  ?• 
Suppose  the  peerage  was  exposed  to  sale,  set  up  at 
open  auction  at  a  time  when  it  was  a  judicial  office ; 


yo  Daniel  O^Connell.  [1813 

if  pensions  were  multiplied  beyond  bounds  and  be- 
yond example ;  if  places  were  augmented  until  in- 
vention was  exhausted,  and  these  were  subdivided 
and  split  into  halves  so  that  two  might  take  the 
emoluments  of  each  and  no  person  do  the  duty ;  if 
these  acts  were  resorted  to  in  order  to  corrupt  their 
representatives,  would  they,  the  gentle  suppressors 
of  vice,  call  that  profligacy  ?  If  the  father  of  child- 
ren selected  in  the  open  day  his  guilty  paramour ; 
if  the  wedded  mother  of  children  displayed  her 
crime  unblushingly  ;  if  the  assent  of  the  titled  or  un- 
titled wittol  to  his  own  shame  was  purchased  with 
the  people's  money  ;  if  these  scenes  were  enacted  in 
the  open  day,  would  sweet  distributors  of  Bibles  call 
that  profligacy?  If  not,  then  let  them  convict  John 
Magee  because  he  published  that  Westmoreland  was 
profligate  and  unprincipled  as  a  Lord-Lieutenant,  and 
then  return  to  their  distribution  of  Bibles  and  their 
attacks  upon  the  recreations  of  the  poor  under  the 
name  of  vices, 

"  The  cold-hearted  and  cruel  Camden."  Ah  !  he 
knew  he  had  their  prejudices  against  him,  for  it  was 
under  Camden's  administration  that  their  faction  had 
been  cherished  and  strengthened.  Still,  he  would 
say  the  cold  and  cruel  Camden.  On  one  circuit  dur- 
ing his  administration  there  were  one  hundred  individ- 
uals tried  before  one  judge :  of  these  ninety-eight  were 
capitally  convicted  and  ninety-seven  hanged.  One 
only  escaped  ;  but  he  was  a  soldier,  who  had  murdered 
a  peasant  or  done  something  equally  trivial.  Had 
they  ever  heard  of  Abercromby,  the  valiant  and  good, 
of  Moore,  the  soldier  and  scholar — the  soul  of  reason 


1813]  The  Liberty  of  the  Press.  71 

and  the  heart  of  pity  ?  Both  were  in  Ireland  under 
Camden,  both  had  recorded  their  opinion  of  his  ad- 
ministration. Let  them  on  their  oaths  dare  to  con- 
tradict Abercromby  and  they  would  convict  not  his 
client  but  themselves  of  the  foul  crime  of  perjury. 

"  The  artful  and  treacherous  Cornwallis."  Was  it, 
he  asked,  necessary  to  prove  that  the  Union  was  ef- 
fectuated by  artifice  and  treachery?  He  would  re- 
fer them  to  the  Attorney-General,  at  that  time  plain 
William  Saurin.  In  1800  Mr.  Saurin  was  charged 
with  being  a  Jacobin  on  much  the  same  lines,  and 
with  as  much  truth  as  he  now  applied  it  to  his  client. 
His  reply  would  serve  for  that  of  Mr.  Magee.  "  Mr. 
Saurin,"  said  the  Anti-Union  of  22d  March,  1800, 
"admitted  that  debates  might  sometimes  produce 
agitations,  but  that  was  the  price  necessarily  paid 
for  liberty."  Oh  !  how  he  thanked  the  good  Jew  for 
that  word.  Yes,  agitation  was  the  price  paid  for 
liberty.  The  Catholics  had  paid  the  price,  and  the 
honest  man  refused  to  give  them  the  goods.  In  1800 
Mr.  Saurin  had  preached  the  holy  doctrine  of  insur- 
rection ;  he  had  sounded  the  tocsin  of  resistance,  and 
summoned  the  people  of  the  land  to  battle  against 
the  Union  as  against  usurpation  :  in  1813  he  indicted 
a  man  and  called  him  a  ruffian  for  speaking  of  the 
Union,  not  as  usurpers,  but  as  artful  and  treacherous 
men  !  He  besought  the  jury  to  pity  the  situation  in 
which  the  Attorney-General  had  placed  himself,  and 
not  to  think  of  punishing  Mr.  Magee  for  his  modera- 
tion. 

But  it  was  said  that  his  client  had  libelled  the 
King  by  imputing  to  him  the  selection  of  improper 


72  Daniel  O' Conneli.  [I813 

and  criminal  chief  governors.  What  was  this  but 
the  very  acme  of  servile  doctrine  ?  The  constitution 
declared  that  the  King  could  do  no  wrong  and  that 
even  for  his  personal  acts  his  servants  were  person- 
ally responsible.  The  Attorney-General  had  re- 
versed the  constitution,  though  as  a  matter  of  fact 
there  was  not  one  word  in  the  alleged  libel  that 
referred  to  his  Majesty. 

But  to  pass  on.     Mr.  Magee  had  published  that 
the  Duke  of  Richmond 

"  came  over  ignorant  ;  he  soon  became  prejudiced,  and 
then  he  became  intemperate.  .  .  .  His  original  charac- 
ter for  moderation  he  has  forfeited.  .  .  .  He  has 
begun  to  act  ;  he  has  ceased  to  be  a  dispassionate  chief 
governor.  .  .  .  He  descends ;  he  mixes  with  the 
throng  ;  he  becomes  personally  engaged,  and  having 
lost  his  temper  calls  forth  his  private  passions  to  support 
his  public  principles  ;  he  is  no  longer  an  indifferent 
Viceroy,  but  a  frightful  partisan  of  an  English  ministry, 
whose  base  passions  he  indulges,  whose  unworthy  resent- 
ments he  gratifies,  and  on  whose  behalf  he  at  present 
canvasses." 

Well !  was  it  not  perfectly  true  ?  Had  not  his 
Grace  canvassed  on  behalf  of  the  ministry  ?  Was 
there  a  titled  or  untitled  servant  of  the  Castle  who 
had  not  been  despatched  to  the  south  to  vote  against 
the  popular  and  for  the  ministerial  candidate  ?  Was 
there  a  single  individual  within  his  Grace's  reach 
that  did  not  vote  against  Prittie  and  Matthew  in 
Tipperary  and  against  Hutchinson  in  Cork?  He 
would  not  read  to  them  how  Mr.  Hutchinson  had 
treated    the   partisanship    of   the    Lord-Lieutenant, 


1813]  The  Liberty  of  the  Press.  73 

lest  it  might  be  supposed  that  he  identified  his 
client  with  the  violent  but  merited  reprobation 
poured  out  by  him  upon  the  scandalous  interference 
of  government  in  these  elections.  Would  the  At- 
torney-General, or  his  colleague  the  Solicitor-General, 
attempt  to  deny  the  Duke  of  Richmond's  inter- 
ference in  these  elections  ?  It  was  as  notorious  as 
the  sun  at  noon-day.  For  himself,  he  would  say  that 
he  who  used  the  influence  of  the  executive  to  con- 
trol the  choice  of  the  representatives  of  the  people 
violated  the  first  principles  of  the  constitution  ;  he 
was  guilty  of  political  sacrilege,  and  p^rofaned  the 
very  sanctuary  of  the  people's  rights  and  liberties, 
and  if  he  should  be  called  a  partisan  it  was  only 
because  some  harsher  and  more  appropriate  term 
ought  to  be  applied  to  his  delinquency. 

The  Attorney-General  had  boasted  of  his  convic- 
tion of  Mr.  Kirwan.  He  had  gloried  in  having  got 
together  a  jury  more  subservient  than  in  Dr.  Sheri- 
dan's case.  "  Me,  me,  adsuni  qui  feci"  he  had  ex- 
claimed in  rapture  ;  he  forgot  to  add  "  mea  fraus 
omnis."  Had  he  succeeded  likewise  in  the  present 
case?  The  jury  had  been  shown  the  publication 
for  which  his  client  was  being  tried  ;  he  would  read 
them  a  paragraph  in  a  newspaper,  the  publisher  of 
which  the  Attorney-General  refused  to  prosecute 
for  libel: — "  Ballybay,  4th  July,  18 13.  A  meeting  of 
the  Orange  lodges  was  agreed  on,  in  consequence 
of  the  manner  in  which  the  Catholics  wished  to  have 
persecuted  the  loyalists  in  this  country  last  year, 
when  they  even  murdered  some  of  them  for  no  other 
reason  than  their  being  yeomen  and  Protestants." 


74  Daniel  O'Connell.  [teia 

The  paragraph  made  his  blood  boil.  There  had 
been  several  murders  committed  in  the  county 
Monaghan,  in  which  Ballybay  lay.  The  persons 
killed  were  Roman  Catholics  ;  their  murderers  were 
Orangemen.  Several  of  the  persons  accused  of  these 
murders  were  to  be  tried  at  the  ensuing  assizes. 
The  obvious  intention  of  that  and  similar  para- 
graphs was  to  create  a  prejudice  favourable  to  the 
murderers.  The  Attorney-General  was  waited  on ; 
he  was  respectfully  requested  to  prosecute  the  pub- 
lishers of  the  newspaper  upon  the  terms  of  having 
the  falsehood  of  these  assertions  first  proved  to  him. 
He  refused.  The  two  proprietors  of  the  newspaper, 
the  Hibernian  Journal,  had  each  a  pension  of  ;^400 
per  annum,  for  supporting  government,  as  it  was 
called,  in  addition  to  proclamations  and  public 
advertisements ! 

"  Would,"  exclaimed  O'Connell,  turning  round  to 
where  Peel,  the  Chief  Secretary,  was  sitting,  "  would 
that  I  could  see  the  man  who  pays  the  proclamation 
money  and  these  pensions  !  I  would  ask  him  whether 
this  was  a  paper  that  ought  to  receive  the  money  of 
the  Irish  people.  Whether  this  was  the  legitimate 
use  of  the  public  purse."  Let  them  contrast  the 
position  of  Mr.  Magee  with  that  of  the  proprietors 
of  the  Hibernian  Journal ;  the  one  prosecuted  with 
all  the  weight  and  influence  of  the  Crown,  the  other 
pensioned  by  the  minister  of  the  Crown  ;  the  one 
dragged  to  the  bar  for  the  sober  discussion  of  politi- 
cal topics,  the  other  hired  to  disseminate  the  most 
horrid  calumnies.  Were  they  going  to  convict  Mr. 
Magee  ?     Was  there   amongst  them  one  friend  to 


1813]  The  Liberty  of  the  Press.  75 

freedom  ?  There  were  amongst  them  men  of  great 
religious  zeal,  of  much  public  piety.  Were  they 
sincere  ?  Did  they  believe  what  they  professed  ? 
With  all  their  zeal,  with  all  their  piety,  was  there  a 
conscience  amongst  them?  If  they  were  sincere; 
if  they  had  a  conscience,  Mr.  Magee  confidently  ex- 
pected an  acquittal.  But  if  they  were  not,  if  they 
were  slaves  and  hypocrites,  he  would  await  their 
verdict  and  despise  it. 

Such  in  meagre  outlines  was  the  speech,  which  it 
took  O'Connell  four  hours  to  deliver — the  greatest 
perhaps  of  all  his  forensic  efforts.  Into  those  four 
brief  hours  he  poured  the  agony  and  indignation  of 
a  lifetime.  It  was  the  first  time  that  it  had  been 
given  him  to  get  the  enemies  of  his  faith  and  of  his 
country  before  him,  and  force  them  against  their  will 
to  listen  to  his  scathing  criticism  of  the  principles 
that  had  regulated  and  still  continued  to  regulate 
the  government  of  Ireland.  He  had  told  them  the 
truth  to  their  faces  ;  he  had  torn  the  hollow  mask  of 
piety  from  them,  and  revealed  them  to  the  world  as 
hypocrites  in  religion,  bankrupts  in  principle,  cor- 
ruptors  of  public  morality,  violators  of  the  constitu- 
tion, political  assassins  to  whom  government  meant 
the  preservation  of  iniquitous  privileges  for  the  few 
and  the  oppression  of  the  many.  And  his  words 
had  gone  home  to  the  Judge,  the  Jury,  the  Attorney- 
General  and  the  government  as  represented  by  the 
Chief  Secretary.  If  Magee  had  been  guilty  of  pub- 
lishing a  libel,  O'Connell,  as  Peel  said,  had  uttered 
one  even  more  atrocious.  The  price  to  be  paid  for 
it  would,  no  doubt,  be  a  big  one. 


76  Daniel  O'Cottfiell.  [I813 

The  jury  returned  a  verdict  of  guilty  against 
Magee ;  but  judgment  was  postponed  till  November. 
In  the  interval  O'Connell's  speech  was  published  in 
pamphlet  form,  and  so  great  was  the  interest  created 
by  it  that  ten  thousand  copies  were  disposed  of  on 
the  day  of  publication.  It  was  translated  into  French 
and  Spanish,  and  a  copy  in  the  latter  language  pre- 
sented, it  is  said,  to  every  member  of  the  Cortes. 
There  was  therefore  little  matter  for  wonder  that 
when  Magee  was  called  up  for  judgment,  on  27th 
November,  the  Attorney-General  should  have  urged 
the  publication  of  the  speech  and  Magee's  approval 
of  it  as  an  aggravation  of  his  original  offence.  He 
was  still  smarting  under  the  recollection  of  O'Con- 
nell's remorseless  sarcasm,  and  in  stating  his  case  he 
alluded  to  the  language  in  which  he  had  been  ad- 
dressed as  the  grossest  outrage  to  public  decency 
that  had  occurred  within  the  memory  of  man.  For 
could  it,  he  asked,  be  for  a  moment  supposed  that  it 
was  the  right  or  privilege  of  a  criminal  brought  to 
trial  to  waive  his  own  defence,  and  to  turn  the  indict- 
ment into  an  arraignment,  an  accusation,  and  an 
attack  upon  the  character  of  the  prosecutor,  and 
that  prosecutor  the  public  officer  of  the  law,  whose 
duty  it  was  to  prosecute  his  crime  ?  For,  supposing 
the  criminal  should  be  able  to  find  in  his  counsel  an 
accomplice  of  his  crime,  surely  it  could  not  be  con- 
tended that  the  counsel  of  that  criminal  could  derive 
any  privilege  from  his  own  criminality.  It  was  an 
unfortunate  expression  if  he  did  not  mean  to  refer 
to  O'Connell  as  a  participator  in  Magee's  criminality. 
Anyhow,  O'Connell  at  once  construed  it  in  that  sense, 


1813]  The  Liberty  of  the  Press.  yy 

and,  rising  to  reply,  he  said  the  Attorney-General  had 
done  well  to  treasure  up  his  resentment  since  July 
in  order  to  give  utterance  to  it  in  a  place  which 
prevented  him  administering  the  chastisement  he 
deserved. 

"  Eh  !  what  is  that  you  say  ?  "  interrupted  Justice 
Daly. 

"  Take  care  what  you  say,  sir!  "  exclaimed  Justice 
Osborne.  "  I  warn  you,  I  will  not  sit  here  and  listen 
to  such  a  speech  as  that  which  I  have  seen  reported." 

"  Chastising  the  Attorney-General !  "  added  Justice 
Daly.  "  If  a  criminal  information  was  applied  for 
on  that  word,  we  should  be  bound  to  grant  it." 

"  My  lords,"  said  O'Connell,  "I  meant  that  else- 
where thus  assailed  I  should  be  carried  away  by  my 
feelings  to  do  that  which  I  should  regret — to  go  be- 
yond the  law  —  to  inflict  corporal  punishment  for 
that  ofTence,  which  I  am  here  ready,  out  of  considera- 
tion for  the  court,  to  pardon." 

"  I  will  take  the  opinion  of  the  court,"  retorted 
Justice  Osborne,  "  whether  you  shall  not  be  com- 
mitted." 

"  Now,  Mr.  O'Connell,"  interposed  Justice  Day, 
pouring  oil  on  the  troubled  surface,  "  do  you  not 
perceive  that,  while  you  talk  of  suppressing  those 
feelings,  you  are  actually  indulging  them  ?  The 
Attorney-General  could  not  mean  you  offence  in  the 
line  of  argument  he  pursued  to  enhance  the  punish- 
ment of  your  client.  It  is  unnecessary  to  throw  ofT 
or  to  repel  aspersions  that  are  not  made." 

"  My  lord,"  replied  O'Connell,  "  I  thank  you.  .  .  . 
But  what  did  the  Attorney-General  mean  when  he 


78  Daniel  O'Connell.  [I813 

imputed  to  the  advocate  participation  in  the  crime 
of  the  cHent  ?  " 

"  We  did  not,"  said  Justice  Osborne,  "  understand 
him  to  refer  to  you." 

"  I  did  not,  my  lords,"  the  Attorney-General  assured 
the  court.  "  I  certainly  did  not  mean  the  gentleman. 
To  state  that  I  did  would  be  to  misrepresent  my 
meaning,  which  had  nothing  to  do  with  him." 

The  admission  put  an  end  to  the  controversy  ;  but 
it  did  not  prevent  O'Connell,  under  colour  of  a  legal 
argument  to  show  why  the  matter  stated  for  aggra- 
vation ought  not  to  be  allowed  to  affect  his  client, 
from  giving  full  vent  to  his  indignation  at  the  At- 
torney-General's attempt  to  bridle  the  independent 
opposition  of  the  Bar.  And,  indeed,  so  far  as  the 
prosecution  rested  on  political  grounds,  there  can 
hardly  be  any  question  that  his  attitude  was  sound 
in  principle.  But  the  violence  of  his  language,  the 
open  sarcasms  he  levelled  at  the  impartiality  of 
the  Bench,  were  hardly  calculated  to  improve  the 
case  of  his  client,  and  Magee,  whose  courage  had 
been  damped  by  confinement  in  Kilmainham,  with- 
out consulting  him  instructed  another  of  his  counsel 
to  disavow  his  speech.  The  Attorney-General,  how- 
ever, refused  to  dissociate  the  client  from  his  counsel, 
and  Magee  was  condemned  to  pay  a  fine  of  ;^500,  to 
go  to  prison  for  two  years,  and  to  find  security  for 
his  subsequent  good  behaviour,  himself  in  ;^iooo 
and  two  others,  each  in  ;^500. 

Magee's  conduct  greatly  distressed  O'Connell,  not 
merely  on  personal  grounds,  though  it  was  mortifica- 
tion enough  to  have  been  disowned  in  public  court. 


\ 


V  '""-''"'v. 


I— ^ 


i 


1813]  The  Liberty  of  the  Press.  79 

but  more  because  of  its  probable  effects  on  the 
Catholic  cause,  as  likely  to  increase  "  dissension 
amongst  the  few  who  remain  devoted  in  intention 
and  design,  at  least,  to  the  unfortunate  land  of  our 
birth."  That  the  Catholics  had  suffered  a  serious 
reverse  was  certain,  and  the  ill-feeling  to  which 
O'Connell's  stubborn  opposition  to  the  veto  had 
given  rise  was  intensified  by  what  was  openly  spoken 
of  as  his  mismanagement  of  Magee's  case.  So 
strongly,  indeed,  did  the  current  run  against  him, 
that  his  friends  felt  it  necessary  to  rally  round  him, 
and  in  order  to  show  their  unabated  confidence  in 
his  leadership,  to  present  him  with  a  service  of  plate 
of  the  value  of  a  thousand  guineas.  In  making  the 
presentation,  John  Finlay,  a  Protestant  barrister,  and 
an  ardent  friend  of  the  Catholics,  referred  in  eulo- 
gistic terms  to  O'Connell's  unselfish  devotion  to  the 
cause  of  his  fellow-countrymen,  his  unwearying  ac- 
tivity in  their  service,  his  consummate  ability,  and 
his  undaunted  courage  in  repelling  the  attacks  of 
government  on  the  independence  of  the  Bar  and  the 
liberty  of  the  press.  Power  had  attempted  to  put 
him  down  ;  it  was  their  duty  to  support  him.  It  had 
been  said,  and  said  with  great  truth,  that  no  man 
had  ever  yoked  his  fortunes  to  the  fate  of  Ireland 
who  had  not  been  ruined  by  the  connection.  It  was 
their  interest  to  uphold  him — "  a  man  spotless  in  the 
relations  of  private  life,  matchless  in  the  duties  of 
private  friendship,  beloved  by  every  man  who  knows 
him,  and  esteemed  by  all  who  have  not  a  prejudice 
or  an  interest  in  disliking  him." 

Adapting  Scott's  lines,  he  would  say — 


8o 


Daniel  O'Connell. 


[1813] 


Let  him  but  stand,  in  spite  of  power, 
A  watchman  on  the  lonely  tower  ; 
His  thrilling  trump  will  rouse  the  land 
When  fraud  or  danger  is  at  hand  ; 
By  him,  as  by  a  beacon  light, 
The  pilot  must  keep  course  aright." 


I 


CHAPTER  V. 

DUELS  AND   DISAPPOINTMENTS. 
1814-1820. 

MEANWHILE  the  battle  of  the  Securities  con- 
tinued to  drag  on  its  weary  length.  Both 
sides,  vetoists  and  anti-vetoists,  had  appealed 
to  the  Pope,  and  early  in  the  following  year,  18 14, 
came  the  papal  answer  in  the  shape  of  a  rescript 
signed  by  the  Vice-Prefect  of  the  Propaganda,  Mon- 
signor  Quarantotti,  sanctioning  the  very  Securities 
which  the  Irish  episcopacy  had  pronounced  to  be 
incompatible  with  the  discipline  of  the  Roman  Catho- 
lic Church.  The  vetoists  were  jubilant  at  the  re- 
sult ;  the  anti-vetoists  depressed  beyond  measure. 
"  Is  it  true,  sir,"  asked  his  servant  of  an  old  parish 
priest,  "  that  the  Pope  has  turned  Orangeman  ?  " 
What,  indeed,  could  one  think,  now  that  the  Pope 
himself  seemed  to  have  deserted  them  and  gone 
over  to  the  enemy  ?  But  the  feeling  of  depression, 
if  acute,  was  short-lived.  On  examination,  it  was 
found  that  at  the  date  aflfixed  to  Quarantotti's  re- 
script, i6th  February,  18 14,  the  Pope,  Pius  VII., 
was  still  a  prisoner  in  the   hands  of   Napoleon   at 

81 


82  Daniel  O'Cannell.  [1814- 

Fontainebleau.  The  discovery  pointed  a  way  out  of 
the  dilemma.  What  right,  it  was  asked,  had  a  mere 
clerk  of  the  Propaganda  to  settle  a  matter  of  such 
grave  importance  on  his  own  account  ?  They  had 
appealed  to  the  Pope,  not  to  his  secretary  ;  the 
Pope's  signature  was  wanting,  and  in  refusing  to  re- 
gard the  rescript  as  mandatory,  the  Irish  Catholics 
could  not  be  charged  with  disobedience  ;  but  there 
was  a  strong  feeling  abroad  that,  even  in  the  event 
of  the  Pope  assenting  to  the  Securities,  the  Irish 
would  be  justified,  on  national  grounds,  in  disobey- 
ing him. 

"If  the  Pope  himself,"  exclaimed  Purcell  O'Gor- 
man,  at  a  meeting  of  Catholics  on  19th  May,  "with 
all  his  cardinals  in  full  council,  issued  a  bull  to  the 
effect  of  the  rescript,  I  should  not  obey  it."  When 
the  cheers  that  greeted  his  words  had  died  away,  he 
added,  "  I  suppose  I  should  thereby  cease  to  be  a 
Catholic  ?  "  "  No,  no  !  "  shouted  Doctor  Droom- 
goole,  the  Duigenan  of  the  Catholic  party.  "  I 
am  glad,"  resumed  O'Gorman, — "  I  am  glad  that 
I  may  resist  the  Pope  and  Council  and  still  be  a 
member  of  the  Catholic  Church."  The  English 
Catholics  might  do  as  they  liked ;  but  it  was  clear 
that  in  Ireland  matters  had  reached  a  point  when  it 
might  prove  dangerous  for  the  papacy  to  conspire 
further  with  the  English  ministry  in  trying  to  curtail 
the  independence  of  the  Irish  clergy.  Nor  were  the 
clergy  themselves  backward  in  asserting  their  na- 
tional rights.  After  a  two  days'  conference  at 
Maynooth,  the  bishops,  on  27th  May,  unanim- 
ously resolved  that,  having  taken  into  their  mature 


1820]  Duels  and  Disappomtments.  83 

consideration  the  late  rescript  of  the  Vice-Prefect  of 
the  Propaganda,  they  were  fully  convinced  that  it 
was  not  mandatory. 

As  for  O'Connell,  there  was  no  doubt  as  to  his 
opinion  on  the  subject.  He  was,  he  prided  him- 
self, a  Catholic  from  conviction ;  but  had  he  been  a 
Protestant  or  a  Presbyterian  his  objection  to  papal 
interference  in  a  matter  of  national  importance 
could  not  have  been  more  determined.  "  I  am," 
said  he,  "  sincerely  a  Catholic ;  but  I  am  not  a  Pa- 
pist, and  I  deny  the  doctrine  that  the  Pope  has  any 
temporal  authority,  directly  or  indirectly,  in  Ire- 
land." He  would  not  believe  that  any  of  their  ven- 
erated prelates  could  fail  in  their  duty  ;  but  should 
they  descend  from  their  high  station  to  become  the 
vile  slaves  of  the  clerks  of  the  Castle,  he  would  warn 
them  betimes  to  look  to  their  masters  for  their  sup- 
port ;  for  the  people  would  despise  them,  and  would 
communicate  only  with  some  holy  priest  who  had 
never  bowed  to  the  Dagon  of  power.  This  was 
plain  speaking  with  a  vengeance,  and  it  did  not  fail 
to  produce  a  salutary  effect  on  the  counsels  of  the 
papacy.  At  the  same  time,  however,  it  exasperated 
those  friends  of  Catholic  emancipation  in  Parliament 
who  regarded  the  Securities  as  a  harmless  and  neces- 
sary concession  to  Protestant  feeling  in  England,  and 
on  presenting  the  Catholic  petition,  on  24th  May, 
Grattan  announced  that  it  was  not  his  intention  to 
discuss  its  merits  that  session  or  to  move  any  reso- 
lution based  upon  it.  For  this  decision  he  offered  no 
explanation  ;  it  was,  as  O'Connell  indignantly  re- 
marked, a  barefaced  "  stet  pro  ratione  voluntas.''     Of 


84  Dajiiel  O'Connell.  ti8i4- 

course  it  was  impossible  to  overlook  his  conduct, 
and  a  meeting  of  the  Catholic  Board  was  hastily 
summoned  to  consider  the  unexpected  event,  and  to 
decide  on  what  steps  it  was  necessary,  under  the 
circumstances,  to  take.  The  hour  of  meeting  had 
arrived,  and  O'Connell  was  about  to  open  the  busi- 
ness when  a  messenger  from  the  Castle  hastily  en- 
tered the  room,  holding  in  his  hand  a  Government 
proclamation  ordering  the  immediate  dissolution  of 
the  Board. 

The  Attorney-General  had  done  as  he  promised 
he  would  do,  and  crushed  the  Board  at  his  own  good 
time.  He  could  not  have  found  a  more  favourable 
opportunity  for  his  purpose.  As  O'Connell  and  his 
handful  of  faithful  adherents  strolled  up  to  his  house 
in  Merrion  Square  to  make  arrangements  for  calling 
together  an  aggregate  meeting  to  discuss  the  situa- 
tion, the  prospect  that  confronted  them  was  gloomy 
in  the  extreme.  Never,  indeed,  in  the  whole  course 
of  the  agitation  had  the  situation  seemed  more 
hopeless  than  it  did  at  this  moment.  Distracted  by 
their  own  internal  dissensions,  disowned  by  their 
Protestant  supporters  in  Parliament,  out-tricked  at 
Rome  itself,  robbed  of  the  advocacy  of  the  press, 
and  now,  by  the  suppression  of  the  Board,  deprived 
of  their  last  means  of  constitutional  agitation,  the 
Catholics  might  well  seem  an  object  of  derision  to 
their  enemies,  and  O'Connell's  heart  might  well  sink 
within  him  as  he  read  his  own  misery  in  the  faces 
of  the  few  friends  that  still  clung  to  him.  Would 
emancipation  never  be  achieved  ?  Often  and  often 
did  he  ask  himself   the    question,  and    the   answer 


1820]  Duels  and  Disappointments.  85 

was  not  always  satisfactory  even  to  his  sanguine 
nature. 

Nevertheless,  depressed  and  discouraged  though 
he  was,  he  showed  no  outward  sign  of  hesitation,  and 
his  language  in  public  was  as  hopeful  as  ever.  His 
very  presence  inspired  confidence.  Never,  not  even 
in  the  great  hour  of  triumph  that  awaited  him,  was 
he  more  deserving  of  the  admiration  and  love  of  his 
countrymen  than  in  the  dark  years  that  elapsed  be- 
tween the  suppression  of  the  Board  and  the  founda- 
tion of  the  Association.  And  it  was  with  a  feeling 
of  justifiable  pride  that  he  afterwards  recalled  how, 
at  a  period  when  his  minutes  counted  by  the  guinea, 
when  his  emoluments  were  limited  only  by  the  ex- 
tent of  his  physical  and  waking  powers,  when  his 
meals  were  shortened  to  the  narrowest  space,  and 
his  sleep  restricted  to  the  earliest  hours  before  the 
dawn — at  that  period,  and  for  more  than  twenty 
years  —  there  was  no  day  that  he  did  not  devote 
one  to  two  hours,  often  much  more,  to  the  working 
out  of  the  Catholic  cause,  and  that  without  receiving 
or  allowing  the  offer  of  any  remuneration  even  for 
the  personal  expenditure  incurred  in  the  agitation 
of  the  cause  itself ;  and  how  for  four  years  he  bore 
the  entire  expenses  of  the  Catholic  agitation  without 
receiving  the  contribution  of  others  to  a  greater 
amount  than  £'jAt  in  the  whole. 

Grattan's  refusal  to  advocate  the  Catholic  claims 
had  the  disastrous  effect  of  stimulating  the  exertions 
of  their  opponents,  and  among  several  petitions  pre- 
sented to  Parliament  hostile  to  their  claims  was  one 
emanating   from  the   corporation    of   Dublin.     The 


86  Daniel  O' Connell.  tl8l4- 

fact  irritated  O'Connell,  and  at  a  meeting  of  Catholics 
in  January  of  the  following  year,  1815,  he  alluded  to 
the  loss  they  had  sustained  by  not  having  the  sub- 
ject discussed  the  previous  session  in  Parliament, 
adding  that  had  it  been  otherwise  they  would  not 
then  have  seen  "  the  beggarly  corporation  of  Dub- 
lin "  anticipating  their  efforts  by  a  petition  of  an 
opposite  tendency.  The  expression,  one  would  have 
thought,  was  harmless  enough,  and  it  is  hard  to  con- 
ceive why  an  individual  member  of  the  corporation 
should  have  regarded  it  as  personally  applying  to 
himself.  Yet  this  was  precisely  what  one  of  them, 
a  Mr.  D'Esterre,  did.  D'Esterre  was  a  wholesale 
provision  dealer  in  Bachelor's  Walk  and  a  repre- 
sentative of  the  guild  of  merchants.  In  early  life  he 
had  served  as  a  petty  officer  in  the  fleet,  and  by  his 
courageous  behaviour  during  the  mutiny  at  the  Nore 
had  acquired  for  himself  a  considerable  reputation 
for  personal  bravery.  Moreover  he  was  a  man  of 
liberal  sentiments,  and  had  on  more  than  one  occa- 
sion urged  on  his  fellows  of  the  corporation  the 
adoption  of  a  more  conciliatory  attitude  towards  the 
Roman  Catholics,  having  even,  it  is  said,  opposed 
the  very  petition  which  now  raised  O'Connell's  ire. 
Unfortunately  he  was  in  rather  embarrassed  circum- 
stances, and  either  because  he  hoped  to  improve  his 
position  by  attacking  a  man  personally  objectionable 
to  Government,  or  because  in  his  sensitiveness  to  his 
position  he  fell  an  easy  victim  to  the  insinuations  of 
more  unscrupulous  men,  he  thought  proper  to  resent 
O'Connell's  words  as  a  direct  attack  on  himself. 
O'Connell's  surprise  on  opening  D'Esterre's  letter 


1820]  Duels  and  Disappointments.  87 

requiring  a  retractation  or  explanation  of  the  offen- 
sive expression  may  be  more  easily  imagined  than 
described.  Retractation  was  of  course  out  of  the 
question,  and  all  that  he  felt  it  incumbent  on  him  to 
say  by  way  of  explanation  was  that,  while  the  cor- 
poration doubtless  contained  many  estimable  indi- 
viduals, the  conduct  of  the  corporation  itself  was  so 
notoriously  hostile  to  the  Catholics  that  their  private 
opinions  must  necessarily  be  confounded  in  the  acts 
of  the  general  body.  This  explanation  did  not 
satisfy  D'Esterre  ;  but  instead  of  taking  the  course 
usual  in  such  cases  he  despatched  another  letter, 
which,  however,  O'Connell  returned  unread.  This 
was  on  Friday,  27th  January.  Three  days  elapsed 
without  D'Esterre's  taking  any  further  step  ;  but 
on  Tuesday  a  rumour  got  abroad  that  he  was  go- 
ing to  horsewhip  O'Connell.  The  whole  town  was 
excited  over  the  affair,  especially  when  it  turned 
out  that  D'Esterre  had  actually  appeared  in  the 
Four  Courts  with  a  whip  in  his  hand,  but  had  failed 
to  find  O'Connell.  As  for  the  latter,  he  continued 
to  go  about  his  business  as  usual,  though  attended 
by  a  large  concourse  of  well-wishers  determined  to 
see  fair  play  on  D'Esterre's  part.  The  comedy  lasted 
the  whole  day;  but  in  the  evening  Justice  Day  in- 
terfered in  his  magisterial  capacity,  and  exacted  a 
promise  from  O'Connell  that  he  would  on  no  ac- 
count be  the  aggressor.  Early  next  morning,  how- 
ever, Sir  Edward  Stanley,  acting  as  D'Esterre's 
friend,  called  on  O'Connell,  and  was  by  him  referred 
to  Major  MacNamara,  who  promptly  fixed  the  hour 
of  meeting  for  half-past  three  o'clock  that  afternoon. 


88  Daniel  O'Cannell.  [I8l+- 

The  snow  was  falling  slightly  as  O'Connell  and 
his  friends  rolled  out  of  Dublin  on  their  way  to  the 
appointed  place  of  meeting  at  Bishop's  Court,  about 
twelve  miles  from  the  city.  They  reached  the 
ground  precisely  at  three ;  an  hour  passed  away  be- 
fore D'Esterre  and  his  friends  arrived,  and  forty 
minutes  more  elapsed  before  the  combatants  were 
placed  in  position.  In  the  interval  D'Esterre  took 
occasion  to  say  that  his  quarrel  with  O'Connell  was 
not  of  a  religious  nature,  and  that  he  had  no  animos- 
ity whatever  against  the  Catholics  or  their  leaders. 
Both  he  and  O'Connell  appeared  cool  and  collected. 
Each  was  provided  with  a  case  of  pistols  to  use  at 
discretion.  D'Esterre  fired  first,  but  the  click  of 
O'Connell's  pistol  followed  almost  instantly,  and 
D'Esterre  was  seen  to  fall  to  the  ground.  Medical 
attendance  was  at  hand,  and,  honour  having  been 
satisfied,  O'Connell  and  his  friends  withdrew.  Mean- 
while, it  had  been  rumoured  in  Dublin  that  O'Con- 
nell had  been  killed,  and  fears  being  entertained  lest 
the  mob  might  exact  personal  vengeance  on  D'Es- 
terre, a  body  of  cavalry  was  hastily  despatched 
to  the  spot.  When  the  truth  became  known,  it 
caused  a  tremendous  revulsion  of  feeling ;  the 
joy  of  the  populace  was  unbounded,  bonfires  were 
lighted  in  the  streets  and  continued  blazing  till 
midnight. 

D'Esterre's  wound  was  not  at  first  expected  to 
prove  fatal.  But  on  returning  home  O'Connell  be- 
trayed great  uneasiness  as  to  his  fate.  "  I  fear  he  is 
dead,"  he  remarked  ;  "  but  I  fired  low,  and  the  ball 
must  have  entered  near  the  thigh."       His  apprehen- 


1820]  Duels  and  Disappointments.  89 

sions  were  verified.  Next  day  D'Esterre  expired  in 
great  agony.  The  sad  issue  of  the  duel  greatly  dis- 
tressed O'Connell,  and  anticipating  legal  proceedings 
he  retained  Richard,  afterwards  Baron,  Pennefather, 
to  defend  him  ;  but  the  courtesy  of  the  dead  man's 
friends  relieved  him  from  anxiety  in  that  respect. 
He  himself  was  equal  in  generosity,  and  knowing 
that  the  death  of  her  husband  had  plunged  Mrs. 
D'Esterre  in  poverty,  he  offered  to  settle  a  handsome 
annuity  on  her,  or  rather,  as  he  himself  said,  "  to 
share  his  income  with  her."  The  offer  was  declined, 
but  he  prevailed  on  a  daughter  of  the  deceased  to 
accept  an  annuity  from  him,  which  was  regularly 
paid  till  his  death,  and  at  a  later  period  he  had  the 
satisfaction  of  rendering  valuable  legal  service  to  the 
widow  herself.  But  time  strengthened  rather  than 
diminished  the  remorse  he  felt  for  D'Esterre's  fate, 
and  the  recollection  of  it  is  said,  by  those  who  knew 
him  best,  to  have  cast  a  shadow  over  his  whole  sub- 
sequent life.  From  that  time  forward  people  noticed 
that  whenever  he  had  occasion  to  pass  D'Esterre's 
house  in  Bachelor's  Walk  he  would  raise  his  hat  and 
move  his  lips  in  silent  prayer.  Subsequently  he  be- 
came so  impressed  with  the  wickedness  as  well  as 
the  folly  of  duelling  as  to  register  a  vow  never  to 
fight  another.  From  this  resolve  no  reflection  on 
his  personal  courage  could  ever  move  him,  and  there 
can  be  little  doubt  that  his  example  did  much  to 
discourage  the  practice  amongst  public  men. 

At  the  time,  however,  though  greatly  distressed 
at  what  had  happened,  he  had  come  to  no  such  resol- 
ution, and  he  had  hardly  emerged  from  his  affair  of 


90  Daniel  O^Connell.  [1814- 

honour  with  D'Esterre  than  he  became  involved  in 
another  with  Peel.  Robert  Peel  was  Chief  Secretary 
to  the  Lord  Lieutenant.  He  was  barely  twenty- 
seven  years  old,  and  still  retained  much  of  that  ex- 
treme sensitiveness  which,  when  a  schoolboy,  had 
driven  him  a  mile  out  of  his  way  rather  than  encounter 
the  rude  jests  of  the  Bury  lads.  His  appointment  to 
the  Irish  secretaryship  in  1812  he  owed  to  Lord  Liver- 
pool, who  had  been  so  favourably  impressed  by  his 
speech  in  defence  of  the  Walcheren  expedition  as  to 
make  him  his  private  secretary.  In  recommending 
him  to  the  then  Lord  Lieutenant,  the  Duke  of  Rich- 
mond, Liverpool,  after  referring  to  the  official  expe- 
rience he  had  acquired  during  the  two  years  he  had 
served  under  him  in  the  Secretary  of  State's  office, 
dwelt  on  his  academic  attainments,  his  good  temper, 
great  frankness,  and  openness  of  manners  as  likely  to 
render  his  appointment  both  acceptable  and  advant- 
ageous to  the  Irish  government.  That  one  so  young 
should,  after  having  served  so  limited  an  apprentice- 
ship, and  with  no  more  knowledge  of  Ireland  than  he 
derived  from  the  fact  that  he  happened  by  an  accid- 
ent to  represent  the  borough  of  Cashel,  have  been 
judged  capable  of  filling  so  responsible  an  office  as 
that  of  Chief  Secretary  speaks  volumes  for  the  con- 
temptuous disregard  with  which  Ireland  was  treated 
by  English  statesmen  during  the  early  years  of  the 
Union.  True,  Pitt  had  become  Prime  Minister  of 
England  at  an  equally  early  age ;  but  men  had 
laughed  derisively  and  not  altogether  without  reason 
at  the  appointment.  How  would  they  have  laughed 
had  Peel  been  made  either  Secretary  of  War  or  First 


1820]  Duels  and  Disappomtments.  91 

Lord  of  the  Treasury  !  But  Chief  Secretary  for  Ire- 
land— that  was  a  post  for  which  the  most  mediocre 
talents  only  were  required.  In  England  mistakes 
and  incompetency  counted  for  something.  In  Ireland 
it  was  otherwise.  Ireland  had  ever  been  the  country 
of  experiments,  and  there  a  man  might  try  his  'pren- 
tice hand  in  the  art  of  statesmanship  without  fear  of 
censure  or  of  risking  his  future  career. 

So  at  least  it  seemed  to  O'Connell,  and  in  the  bit- 
terness of  his  resentment  at  the  slight  placed  on  his 
country  he  seldom,  as  we  have  seen,  lost  an  oppor- 
tunity of  venting  his  spleen  on  Peel.  Nothing, 
indeed,  could  excuse  the  intemperateness  of  his 
language  except  the  fact  that  he  saw  in  Peel  opposi- 
tion to  the  most  elementary  liberties  of  his  country 
personified.  His  sneers  and  sarcasms  no  doubt  went 
home  ;  but  the  haughty  indifference  with  which  the 
Chief  Secretary  met  them  galled  him  to  madness.  A 
report  that  Peel  had  spoken  derogatorily  of  him  in 
the  House  of  Commons  filled  his  cup  of  indignation 
to  overflowing,  and  at  an  aggregate  meeting  on  29th 
August  he  retaliated  by  saying  : 

"  I  am  told  he  has  in  my  absence,  and  in  a  place  where 
he  was  privileged  from  any  account,  grossly  traduced  me. 
I  said  at  the  last  meeting,  and  in  the  presence  of  the  note- 
takers  of  the  police,  who  are  paid  by  him,  that  he  was  too 
prudent  to  attack  me  in  my  presence.  I  see  the  same 
police  informers  here  now,  and  I  authorise  them  carefully 
to  report  these  my  words  :  that  Mr.  Peel  would  not  dare, 
in  my  presence  and  in  any  place  where  he  was  liable  to 
personal  account,  to  use  a  single  expression  derogatory 
to  my  interest  or  my  honour." 


92  Daniel  O'Connell.  [1814- 

The  attack  was  too  direct  to  be  overlooked  by 
Peel,  and  the  following  day  Sir  Charles  Saxton,  at  his 
request,  waited  on  O'Connell  for  an  explanation. 
Being  satisfied  that  no  legal  prosecution  was  intended, 
O'Connell  admitted  that  he  had  been  accurately  re- 
ported, whereupon  Saxton  stated  that  he  was  author- 
ised to  say  that  Peel  had  said  nothing  in  his  speeches 
concerning  him  which  he  did  not  unequivocally  avow 
and  hold  himself  responsible  for.  "  In  that  case," 
replied  O'Connell,  "  I  consider  it  incumbent  on  me 
to  send  a  friend  to  Mr.  Peel."  But  the  friend  chosen 
by  him,  Mr.  George  Lidwill,  a  Protestant  gentleman 
and  a  noted  duellist,  did  not  happen  to  take  the 
same  view  of  the  situation  as  his  principal,  and  hav- 
ing in  the  course  of  an  interview  with  Sir  Charles 
Saxton  elicited  the  important  fact  that  Peel  had  never 
in  his  speeches  in  Parliament  spoken  disrespectfully 
of  O'Connell,  he  gave  it  as  his  opinion  that,  as  the 
insult  had  originated  with  the  latter  he  could  not 
likewise  be  the  challenger.  Saxton  reminded  him 
that  this  was  not  O'Connell's  opinion ;  but  Lidwill 
was  not  to  be  moved  from  his  position,  and  declared 
that  if  O'Connell  insisted  on  sending  a  message  to 
Peel  he  must  decline  to  act  in  the  matter. 

It  thus  happened  that,  while  both  parties  waited 
for  a  message,  no  message  was  sent  by  either,  and 
Saxton,  supposing  that  O'Connell  was  trying  to  slip 
out  of  the  business,  sent  an  account  of  the  affair  to 
Saturday  evening's  Correspondent.  When  O'Connell, 
in  turning  over  the  paper,  came  across  this  letter  his 
indignation  passed  all  bounds,  and  sitting  down  he 
penned    a    most   abusive    letter   to    Carrick's  Post, 


i 


1820]  Duels  and  Disappointments.  93 

directly  charging  Peel  and  Saxton  with  resorting  to 
*'  a  paltry  trick,"  and  with  having  "  ultimately  pre- 
ferred a  paper  war."  His  letter,  of  course,  brought 
matters  to  a  crisis,  and  an  hour  or  two  after  its 
appearance  came  a  politely  worded  request  from  the 
Chief  Secretary  to  appoint  a  friend  to  make  arrange- 
ments with  Colonel  Brown  for  an  early  meeting. 
Lidwill  having  in  the  meanwhile  become  personally 
involved  with  Saxton,  O'Connell  turned  to  his  old 
friend,  Richard  Newton  Bennett.  But  the  reports  in 
the  newspapers  had  by  this  time  so  alarmed  Mrs. 
O'Connell  that,  fearing  for  her  husband's  life,  she 
sent  privately,  after  he  had  retired  to  rest,  to  the 
sheriff,  who,  returning  with  two  police  officers,  gave 
him  then  and  there  into  custody  with  instructions  to 
remain  in  his  bedroom  all  night.  Almost  at  the 
same  time  Lidwill  was  placed  under  arrest,  and  both 
he  and  O'Connell  bound  over  in  heavy  penalties  to 
keep  the  peace. 

O'Connell's  position  was  now  an  extremely  dis- 
agreeable one,  especially  as  the  papers  had  taken  the 
matter  up,  and  were  keenly  discussing  the  relative 
merits  of  him  and  Peel.  A  meeting  in  Ireland  being 
out  of  the  question,  it  was  arranged  that  they  should 
proceed  by  different  routes  to  the  continent  and 
settle  their  difference  abroad.  Ostend  was  named  as 
the  place  of  rendezvous,  and  Peel,  setting  off  at  once, 
had  already  been  there  several  days,  practising,  Irish 
imagination  had  it,  at  an  ace  of  hearts,  when  the  news 
reached  him  that  O'Connell  had  been  arrested  in 
London.  The  arrest  this  time  was  at  the  instance 
of  James  Becket,  Under-Secretary  of  State,  a  friend 


94  Daniel  O'Conftell.  [1814- 

of  Peel's,  and  O'Connell,  bound  over  in  heavy 
penalties  to  keep  the  peace,  returned  to  Ireland.  It 
was  a  wholly  unsatisfactory  conclusion  to  a  wholly 
unsatisfactory  affair.  The  original  offender  had 
been  O'Connell  himself,  but  the  responsibility  of 
pushing  matters  to  extremities  must  rest  entirely 
with  Saxton.  He  and  Lidwill  met  on  the  continent 
and  exchanged  shots,  the  latter  firing  in  the  air,  say- 
ing that  he  had  no  personal  grievance  against  his 
opponent. 

Ten  years  later,  when  emancipation  seemed  likely 
to  be  conceded  by  Parliament,  O'Connell,  in  order  to 
conciliate  Peel,  tendered  him  an  apology  through 
Bennett.  In  acknowledging  it,  Peel  said  that  time 
and  the  consciousness  that  he  had  done  all  in  his 
power  to  procure  honourable  reparation  "  had  re- 
moved all  feelings  of  personal  hostility  and  resent- 
ment, to  which  a  deep  sense  of  injury  might  at  first 
have  given  rise.  Had  any  such  feelings  survived,  the 
intention  of  Mr.  O'Connell  in  making  the  communica- 
tion which  he  had  recently  made  could  not  have 
failed  completely  to  have  extinguished  them."  It 
was  an  honourable  and  manly  step  on  O'Connell's 
part ;  but  when  the  fact  leaked  out,  public  opinion 
in  Ireland  charged  him  with  "crouching'  to  the 
most  implacable  and  dangerous  enemy  of  the  Catholic 
cause.     To  this  charge  O'Connell  replied : 

"  There  was,  I  know  it  well,  personal  humiliation  in 
taking  such  a  step.  But  is  not  this  a  subject  upon  which 
I  merit  humiliation  ?  Yes,  let  me  be  sneered  at  and  let 
me  be  censured,  even  by  the  generous  and  respected  ;  I 
do   not    shrink   from    this  humiliation.     He   who  feels 


1820]  Duels  and  Disappointments.  95 

conscious  of  having  outraged  the  law  of  God  ought  to  feel 
a  pleasure  in  the  avowal  of  his  deep  and  lasting  regret." 

Meanwhile,  to  revert  to  public  affairs,  the  aggre- 
gate meeting,  which  had  been  called  to  consider  the 
situation  into  which  the  affairs  of  the  Catholics  had 
been  thrown  by  the  refusal  of  Grattan  to  advocate 
their  claims,  and  the  dissolution  of  the  Catholic 
Board,  met  on  nth  June,  1814,  and  passed  certain 
formal  resolutions.  But  the  attendance  was  thin, 
and  the  prevailing  air  was  one  of  apathy  and  indif- 
ference. Indeed,  so  long  as  the  Securities  question 
remained  unsettled  it  was  hopeless  to  look  for  any 
decided  action.  So  far  as  Quarantotti's  rescript  was 
concerned,  the  remonstrance  of  the  Irish  episcopacy 
had  been  successful  in  inducing  the  Pope  to  recall 
it ;  but  what  direction  his  Holiness's  final  decision 
might  take  it  was  impossible  to  predict.  The  ques- 
tion of  petitioning  Parliament  in  the  following  ses- 
sion did  something,  however,  to  stir  the  smouldering 
ashes  into  a  feeble  flame.  At  a  meeting  in  Lord  Fin- 
gal's  drawing  room,  on  loth  January,  18 15,  Richard 
Lalor  Shell,  rising  into  fame  as  a  dramatic  writer 
and  the  one  eloquent  mouthpiece  of  the  vetoists, 
submitted  a  well-written  petition.  The  only  objec- 
tion to  it  was  that  it  was  too  servile  in  tone,  and  held 
out  a  hope  of  compromise  on  the  Securities  diffi- 
culty. The  influence  of  O'Connell  was  sufficient  to 
secure  its  rejection,  and  to  obtain  the  appointment 
of  a  committee,  of  which  he  was  one,  to  frame  a 
suitable  petition.  But  the  same  difference  of  opin- 
ion manifested  itself  in  the  committee  as  had  shown 


96  Daiiiel  O'Connell.  [1814- 

itself  in  the  meeting,  and  after  a  second  futile  effort 
at  unanimity  it  was  resolved  simply  that  a  petition 
should  be  presented,  leaving  it  open  to  discussion 
what  that  petition  should  be  and  also  as  to  whom  it 
should  be  offered  for  presentation.  After  some  hesita- 
tion it  was  agreed  to  call  upon  their  old  friends,  Lord 
Donoughmore  and  Grattan,  The  former  responded 
cordially,  but  the  latter  would  only  consent  to  pro- 
mote their  claims  on  his  own  conditions,  viz.,  of 
qualified  emancipation.  His  attitude  was  severely 
censured  by  O'Connell  at  an  adjourned  meeting  of 
Catholics  on  15th  February.  He  did  not,  he  de- 
clared, dispute  or  question  Grattan's  integrity  or  his 
high  honour ;  but,  humble  as  he  was  in  talents  and 
station  compared  with  him,  he  did  dispute  his  judg- 
ment and  was  prepared  to  demonstrate  how  mistaken 
he  was. 

In  the  meantime,  in  order  to  keep  the  flame  of 
agitation  alive,  O'Connell  had  started  a  new  society 
having  its  headquarters  in  Capel  Street,  and  calling 
itself  the  Catholic  Association — the  precursor  of  the 
more  famous  one  of  the  same  name.  In  founding  it 
every  care  had  been  taken  to  steer  clear  of  the  Con- 
vention Act.  No  chair  had  been  taken,  no  proposi- 
tion submitted,  no  instructions  offered,  no  speech 
delivered  ;  but  every  gentleman  who  chose  to  belong 
to  it  entered  his  name  in  a  book  which  the  secretary 
held  open  daily  from  eleven  till  three.  It  was,  in 
effect,  the  suppressed  Board  revived  under  a  new 
name.  To  this  society  O'Connell  now  proposed  to 
assign  the  task  of  finding  some  member  of  the 
House  of  Commons  willing  to  support  their  claim 


RICHARD   LALOR   SHEIL. 

FROM    THE    BUST    BY   G.    MOORE,    M.R.I. A. 


1820]  Duels  and  Disappoinhnents.  97 

for  unqualified  emancipation.  Such  a  member  was 
found  in  the  person  of  Sir  Henry  Parnell ;  but  on 
moving  the  House  to  go  into  committee  on  the 
CathoHc  claims  on  31st  May  he  was  defeated  by  a 
majority  of  eighty-one. 

Clearly  nothing  was  to  be  hoped  for  in  England 
or  in  Ireland  until  the  Securities  difificulty  had  been 
settled.  Acting  in  this  belief  O'Connell  drew  up  or 
inspired  a  "  humble  address  and  remonstrance  of  the 
Roman  Catholics  of  Ireland  to  his  Holiness,  Pope 
Pius  VII.,"  embodying  the  fears,  desires,  and  deter- 
minations of  the  anti-vetoists.  Coming  from  his 
pen,  the  address  was  hardly  to  be  called  a  "  hum- 
ble "  remonstrance  ;  on  the  contrary,  it  conveyed 
to  his  Holiness,  in  pretty  forcible  language,  that 
the  Catholics  of  Ireland  would  submit  to  no  "  in- 
terference "  on  his  part,  or  that  "  of  any  other  for- 
eign prelate,  state,  or  potentate  in  the  control  of 
our  temporal  conduct  or  the  arrangement  of  our 
political  concerns,"  and  concluded  with  a  fervent 
hope  that  his  Holiness  would  see  his  way  to  gratify 
his  most  devoted  children  in  avoiding  the  machi- 
nations of  their  enemies,  "  and  thereby  perpetu- 
ate by  indissoluble  bonds  the  spiritual  connexion, 
which  has  been  so  long  maintained  between  the  see 
of  Rome  and  the  Roman  Catholics  of  Ireland," — 
otherwise  they  "  would  still  proceed  in  the  course 
which  practice  and  persecution  have  tried  and 
proved."  The  memorial  was  transmitted  to  Rome, 
but  after  a  long  delay  it  was  finally  rejected  by  the 
Pope,  on  the  ground  that  the  laity  had  no  business 
to  interfere  in  matters  held  to  be  purely  ecclesiastical. 


98  Dajtiel  O'Connell.  [I814- 

The  result  might  have  been  expected,  consider- 
ing the  paramount  influence  of  Cardinal  Gonsalvi 
in  the  councils  of  the  papacy.  But  the  miscarriage 
of  the  address  greatly  animated  the  vetoists,  and  at 
a  meeting  at  Lord  Trimleston's  a  petition  embodying 
their  views  was  signed  and  transmitted  to  Grattan 
and  Lord  Donoughmore  for  presentation  to  Par- 
liament. The  petition  was  presented  by  Grattan  on 
15th  May,  1 8 16,  as  was  also  another  praying  for  un- 
conditional emancipation  by  Sir  H.  Parnell  on  behalf 
of  the  anti-vetoists,  but  a  proposal  to  resolve  itself 
into  a  committee  for  the  consideration  of  the  penal 
laws  was  defeated  by  thirty-one  votes.  The  division 
was  more  favourable  than  that  of  the  preceding 
year  ;  but  circumstances  had  changed.  The  banish- 
ment of  Napoleon,  and  the  restoration  of  peace  to 
Europe,  had  introduced  a  new  element  into  domestic 
politics.  Whatever  necessity  there  might  have  been 
so  long  as  the  war  lasted  of  conciliating  the  Catho- 
lics, no  longer  existed.  Men  were  weary  of  the  sub- 
ject, and  were  glad  of  any  excuse  to  let  it  drop. 
Nor  was  the  feeling  of  apathy  confined  to  England. 
In  Ireland  vetoists  and  anti-vetoists  were  tired  of  the 
struggle, — of  this  constant  enacting  the  part  of  the 
Sisyphus,  and  sank  back  into  hopeless  indifference. 

To  O'Connell  it  was  a  period  of  harassing  care  and 
anxiety.  He  could  see  for  himself  that  the  Catholic 
peasantry,  the  bulk  of  the  nation,  whose  cause  he 
had  made  his  own,  showed  little  interest  one  way  or 
another.  Rent,  tithes,  taxes — these  were  the  things 
that  concerned  them,  not  emancipation,  qualified  or 
unqualified.     What   mattered    it   to   them  whether 


1820]  Duels  and  Disappointments.  99 

Roman  Catholics  sat  in  Parliament  or  not  ?  Roman 
Catholic  landlords  were  no  better  than  their  Pro- 
testant neighbours,  often  even  worse.  Men  of  wealth 
and  position  might  find  it  to  their  advantage  to  sit  in 
Parliament  ;  their  priests  told  them  that  emancipa- 
tion was  a  good  thing ;  but  on  the  whole  they  did 
not  care  a  farthing  about  it,  any  more  than  they  had 
done  about  the  Union.  A  deplorable  state  of  affairs, 
no  doubt ;  but  facts  and  the  ordinary  conditions  of 
life  are  stubborn  things.  People  who  have  to  fight 
for  their  daily  bread  do  not  get  excited  over  seats  in 
Parliament  till  seats  in  Parliament  mean  something 
to  them  individually  —  higher  wages,  better  living, 
and  less  tyranny.  Naturally,  they  shouted  them- 
selves hoarse  when  anyone,  especially  O'Connell, 
dilated  on  their  grievances  —  on  the  iniquity  of  the 
penal  laws  which  excluded  them  from  the  full  rights 
of  citizenship.  But  what  Irishman,  or,  for  the  matter 
of  that,  what  Englishman,  is  ever  without  his  griev- 
ance, real  or  imaginary?  The  wonder  is  not  so 
much  that  it  took  twenty-nine  years  to  obtain  eman- 
cipation, as  that  anyone  should  have  been  found 
capable  of  stirring  a  nation  into  enthusiasm  over  it. 
For,  after  all,  emancipation  was  not  such  a  vital 
question  as  was  the  repeal  of  the  corn-laws,  for  ex- 
ample. That  it  was  a  grievance  no  one  can  gainsay ; 
but  it  was  a  grievance  which  affected  a  very  limited 
class  only,  and  might  have  been  as  easily  redressed  in 
1800  as  it  was  in  1829.  Circumstances  rather  than 
his  own  free  choice  had  driven  O'Connell  into  the 
fray,  but,  having  taken  up  his  stand,  nothing  could 
induce  him   to  withdraw,  nothing  could   damp  his 


lOO  Daniel  O'Connell.  [1814- 

ardour.  Victory  crowned  his  devotion  in  the  end 
at  a  price  which  it  took  half  a  century  to  repair. 
But  the  balance  was  on  his  side,  for  in  the  struggle 
he  had  called  a  nation  into  existence.  The  victory 
itself  was  nothing  :  the  ulterior  results  everything. 

Meantime,  he  stood  alone.  Except  for  himself  and 
the  secretary,  scarcely  anyone  troubled  the  commit- 
tee rooms  in  Capel  Street  with  their  presence,  and 
having  to  pay  the  rent  out  of  his  own  pocket  he 
moved  the  Association  into  less  pretentious  premises 
in  Crow  Street.  All  this  time  his  business  in  the 
law  courts  had  been  steadily  increasing.  But  despite 
his  rising  income,  he  was  already  encumbered  with 
debts  of  one  sort  or  another,  due  largely  to  the  fact 
that  very  early  in  his  career  he  had  become  surety 
for  an  insolvent  friend,  while  the  expenses  of  main- 
taining the  agitation  pressed  heavily  upon  him. 
Habitually  careless  in  money  matters,  money  had 
thus  become  to  him  an  absolute  necessity,  and  the 
strain  on  his  working  powers  was  immense.  A  letter 
written  to  him  by  his  wife  on  i  ith  April,  1817,  during 
the  Cork  assizes,  is  worth  quoting: 

"  My  dearest  Love,"  she  writes,  "  I  wish  to  God  you 
could  contrive  to  get  out  of  court  for  a  quarter  of  an 
hour  during  the  middle  of  the  day,  to  take  a  bowl  of 
soup  or  a  snack  of  some  kind.  Surely,  though  you  may 
not  be  able  to  go  to  a  tavern,  could  not  James  get  any- 
thing you  wished  for  from  the  Bar  mess  at  your  lodgings 
which  is  merely  a  step  from  the  Court  House  ?  Do,  my 
heart,  try  to  accomplish  this  :  for  really,  I  am  quite  un- 
happy to  have  you  fasting  from  an  early  hour  in  the 
morning  until  nine  or  ten  o'clock  at  night.     I  wish  I 


t820]  Duels  and  Disappointments.  loi 

was  with  you,  to  make  you  take  care  of  yourself.  I  am 
quite  sure  there  is  not  another  barrister  on  circuit  would 
go  through  half  the  fatigue  you  do  without  taking 
necessary  nourishment." 

That  year,  1817,  no  petition  was  presented  to  Par- 
liament. But  Grattan,  understanding  that  there  was 
a  prospect  of  uniting  parties  in  Ireland  by  a  quasi- 
compromise,  under  the  name  of  "  domestic  nom- 
ination," whereby  the  Pope's  selection  to  Irish 
bishoprics  was  to  be  restricted  to  a  list  of  candi- 
dates forwarded  to  him  from  the  prelates  of  the 
province  and  clergy  of  the  vacant  diocese,  moved 
the  reading  of  the  petition  of  the  previous  year,  and 
on  9th  May  divided  the  House  on  the  subject  of  the 
Catholic  claims,  when  221  voted  for  and  245  against 
the  motion  to  go  into  committee.  The  division  at- 
tracted scarcely  any  attention  in  Ireland.  However, 
at  an  aggregate  meeting  on  3d  July,  a  resolution  was 
passed  to  reorganise  the  Catholic  Board,  consisting 
of  the  members  of  the  former  body,  the  old  Catholic 
Committee,  and  the  short-lived  Association.  The 
Board  held  its  first  meeting  on  the  12th,  and  entered 
into  resolutions  for  greater  activity  against  the  veto 
and  in  favour  of  "  domestic  nomination."  But  it 
proved  as  helpless  as  its  predecessor  to  stimulate 
public  opinion,  and  in  view  of  the  anticipated  general 
election,  in  the  summer  of  the  following  year, 
18 1 8,  no  petition  was  framed  for  presentation  to 
Parliament. 

Month  after  month  thus  passed  idly  away :  all  in- 
terest in  the  subject  seemed  to  have  expired.  To 
deepen  the  general  despondency,  Ireland  was  visited 


T02  Daniel  O'Cojtnell. 


[1814- 


by  one  of  those  periodical  famines  which  engrave 
themselves  so  deeply  in  the  popular  memory  as  to 
serve  for  a  starting-point  from  which  to  date  events, 
until  the  remembrance  of  the  former  has  been  obliter- 
ated in  the  recurrence  of  another  similar  visitation. 
The  harvest  of  1 817  had  proved  an  almost  total  failure. 
The  potato  crop,  to  which  nearly  half  the  population 
looked  for  its  sustenance,  had  rotted  in  the  ground. 
What  had  escaped,  the  tithe-proctor  had  seized. 
Close  in  the  wake  of  famine  came  pestilence;  and 
death,  in  the  form  of  typhus,  mowed  down  the  starv- 
ing peasantry  by  thousands.  Hardly  a  village  in  the 
whole  length  and  breadth  of  the  land  escaped  its 
visitation.  Crowds  of  half-naked,  emaciated  beings 
wandered  disconsolately  about  from  town  to  town, 
seeking  work  and  finding  none,  but  spreading  the 
disease  wherever  they  went.  The  roadsides  were 
lined  with  sick  and  dying,  and  not  the  poor  and 
starving  only  —  strong  men  and  women  in  the  full 
vigour  of  life  fell  before  its  ravages.  Doctors,  nurses, 
priests,  engaged  in  the  tender  ministrations  of  their 
offices,  caught  the  infection  and  died  at  their  posts. 
The  very  air  reeked  contagion.  Even  the  hand  of 
agrarian  outrage  was  paralysed.  The  visitation  was 
too  appalling,  and  men,  women,  and  children  per- 
ished in  droves  in  pitiable.  Oriental-like  apathy  and 
silence. 

In  England  the  state  of  Ireland  awoke  only  a  pass- 
ing thrill  of  horror.  England  had  her  own  troubles 
to  bear.  Since  the  conclusion  of  the  great  war  she 
had  passed  through  a  period  of  intense  economic 
distress.     Neither   agriculturists   nor  manufacturers 


1820]  Duels  and  Disappointments.  103 

could  find  work  for  the  extra  hands  that  war  prices 
had  called  into  existence.  Riots,  incendiarism, 
bloodshed,  and  conspiracies,  followed  by  the  suspen- 
sion of  the  Habeas  Corpus  Act,  were  the  conse- 
quence. How  different  !  how  much  better  than  in 
Ireland,  where  men  perished  without  a  struggle,  and 
almost  without  a  moan  !  France,  it  was  true,  had 
been  conquered  ;  but  French  ideas — the  ideas  un- 
derlying the  French  Revolution — had  taken  root,  and 
were  germinating  in  England.  Men  studied  Vol- 
taire and  Rousseau  ;  they  studied  Adam  Smith,  and 
a  strong  reaction  set  in  among  the  thinking  class 
against  arbitrary  government.  Nowhere  was  the 
feeling  stronger  than  amongst  the  artisans  of  the 
north  of  England,  with  whom  a  radical  reform  of 
Parliament  was  the  first  and  most  essential  article  of 
their  political  creed. 

The  movement  interested  O'Connell.  Granted  a 
reform  of  Parliament,  the  abolition  of  rotten  bor- 
oughs, and  a  redistribution  of  seats,  there  could 
hardly,  he  thought,  be  any  question  as  to  the  success 
of  Catholic  emancipation.  Already,  in  January,  1817, 
he  had  assisted  at  the  formation  in  Dublin  of  a 
society  of  "  Friends  of  Reform  in  Parliament." 
Though  short-lived,  the  society  had  the  effect  of 
stimulating  the  expression  of  liberal  opinion  in  fa- 
vour of  the  Catholics,  and  on  3d  May,  18 19,  Grattan 
had  the  satisfaction  of  presenting  eight  Roman 
Catholic  and  five  Protestant  petitions  in  favour  of 
the  Catholic  claims.  It  was  the  last  time  he  ad- 
dressed the  House  in  their  behalf.  It  was  an  impress- 
ive speech,  and  his  motion  that  the  House  should 


104  Daniel  O^  Connell.  ti8i4- 

resolve  itself  into  committee  was  defeated  by  only 
two  votes. 

O'Connell  was  jubilant  at  the  result.  In  December, 
1818,  he  had  protested  that  if  he  had  to  petition 
alone  he  would  not  let  another  session  go  by  in 
ignominious  silence,  and  now  not  only  had  the 
Catholics  made  themselves  heard,  but  Protestant 
opinion  had  backed  up  their  claims.  Not  one  word 
had  been  said  about  the  veto.  The  next  session 
must  surely,  in  his  opinion,  see  them  emancipated. 
"  Whose  fault,"  he  wrote  to  O'Conor  Don,  on 
2 1st  November, 

"  will  it  be  if  we  are  not  emancipated  this  session  ?  I 
think  our  own.  One  grand  effort  now  ought  to  emanci- 
pate us,  confined,  as  it  should  be  exclusively,  to  our  own 
question.  After  that  I  would,  I  acknowledge,  join  the 
reformers,  hand  as  well  as  heart,  unless  they  do  now 
emancipate.     By  they,  of  course  I  mean  the  Parliament. 

I  intend  instantly  to  set  the  cause  in  motion 

I  came  to  town  only  yesterday,  and  already  I  have  many 
irons  in  the  fire  to  raise  the  blaze  which  should  lead  us 
to  victory." 

His  energy,  indeed,  was  amazing.  Next  day  he 
published  a  long  address  to  the  Catholics  of  Ireland. 
"  The  period,"  he  wrote, 

"  is  at  length  arrived  when  we  may  ascertain  and  place 
beyond  any  doubt  whether  it  be  determined  that  we  are 
for  ever  to  remain  a  degraded  and  inferior  class  in  our 
native  land The  session  of  Parliament  com- 
mences in  one  short   month Let   us  then, 

my  countrymen,  meet  ;  let  us  prepare  our  petitions  ;  let 
those  petitions  be  numerous  ;  let  them  be  unanimous  and 


1820]  Duels  and  Disappointments.  105 

confined  to  the  single  object  of  emancipation 

You  will  be  told  you  should  despise  emancipation  as  a 
minor  and  unworthy  consideration  and  join  the  almost 
universal  cry  of  reform.  Do  not  be  carried  away  by  any 
such  incitement.  No  man  is  more  decidedly  a  friend  to 
reform  than  I  am.  In  theory,  I  admit  the  right  to  universal 
suffrage,  and  I  admit  that  curtailing  the  duration  of 
Parliament  would  be  likely  to  add  to  its  honesty.  Nay, 
I  am  ready  to  go  to  the  fullest  practical  length  to  obtain 
parliamentary  reform.  But  we  have  a  previous  duty 
to  perform :  a  favourable  opportunity  now  presents 
itself  to  add  to  the  general  stock  of  liberty  by  obtain- 
ing our  emancipation,  and  the  man  would,  in  my  judg- 
ment, be  a  false  patriot  who,  for  the  chance  of  an 
uncertain  reform,  would  fling  away  the  present  most 
propitious  moment  to  realize  a  most  important  and 
almost  certain  advantage." 

The  petitions  were  unanimously  entrusted  to  the 
aged  statesman,  Henry  Grattan.  But  the  hand  of 
death  was  upon  him  as  he  sailed  for  England  amid 
the  acclamations  and  tears  of  the  large  assembly 
that  had  congregated  together  on  the  quay  to  bid 
him  "  God-speed."  It  was  a  solemn  journey,  for 
the  hopes  of  the  Catholics  beat  high ;  and  each  one 
prayed  that  it  might  be  granted  to  him,  who  through 
good  and  ill  report  had  fought  for  their  freedom,  to 
achieve  the  long-wished-for  victory.  But  it  was 
otherwise  ordained.  On  4th  June,  1820,  a  few  days 
after  reaching  London,  Grattan  died. 

"  Oh  ! "  exclaimed  O'Connell,  "I  should  exhaust  the 
dictionary  three  times  told  ere  I  could  enumerate  the 
virtues  of  Grattan.     .     .     .     His  life,  to  the  very  period 


io6 


Daniel  O'Connell. 


[1814-1820] 


of  his  latest  breath,  has  been  spent  in  his  country's  ser- 
vice, and  he  died,  I  may  even  say,  a  martyr  in  her  cause. 
Who  shall  now  prate  to  me  of  religious  animosity  ?  To 
any  such  I  will  answer  by  pointing  to  his  honoured 
tomb,  and  I  will  say,  *  There  sleeps  a  man,  a  member  of 
the  Protestant  community,  who  died  in  the  cause  of  his 
Catholic  fellow-countrymen,' " 


CHAPTER  VI. 

THE   king's  visit. 
1821-1822. 

G RATTAN'S  death  was  a  grievous  disappoint- 
ment to  the  CathoHcs,  particularly  to  those 
who,  with  O'Connell,  had  sanguinely  ex- 
pected a  favourable  reception  of  their  claims  by  Par- 
liament, The  difficulty  was  to  find  a  substitute  for 
him.  Two  names  suggested  themselves,  that  of  Mr., 
afterwards  Lord,  Plunket  and  that  of  Maurice  Fitz- 
gerald, Knight  of  Kerry.  Plunket  was  undoubtedly 
by  far  the  abler  man ;  but  his  attitude  in  regard  to 
the  veto  was  even  less  satisfactory  than  Grattan's  had 
been,  and  it  was,  in  O'Connell's  opinion,  in  the  high- 
est degree  unwise  to  place  themselves  unreservedly 
in  his  hands.  At  his  suggestion,  it  was  therefore 
resolved  to  send  a  deputation  to  sound  him  on  the 
point,  and  in  the  event  of  his  reply  proving  unsatis- 
factory, to  transfer  their  petition  to  the  Knight  of 
Kerry.  Plunket  met  the  deputation  in  a  friendly 
manner,  expressed  his  willingness  to  agitate  their 
claims,  but  gave  it  as  his  opinion  that  some  sort  of 
conditions  or  securities  were  both  just  and  necessary. 

107 


lo8  Daniel  O'Connell. 


[1821- 


Under  the  circumstances,  it  was  clearly  the  duty  of 
the  Committee  to  have  reported  in  favour  of  entrust- 
ing the  management  of  the  Catholic  claims  to  the 
Knight  of  Kerry.  Instead  of  doing  so,  they  resolved, 
by  the  casting  vote  of  the  chairman,  to  refer  them- 
selves unreservedly  to  Plunket's  guidance.  Their 
conduct  irritated  and  alarmed  O'Connell,  who  lost 
no  time  in  denouncing  their  proceeding  as  wholly 
wrong  and  unjustifiable.  As  it  was,  he  might,  to 
use  a  popular  phrase,  have  saved  his  breath  to  cool 
his  porridge.  For  neither  the  House  of  Lords,  that 
could  listen  for  weeks  to  the  nasty  revelations  con- 
nected with  the  divorce  of  George  IV.,  nor  the 
House  of  Commons,  that  was  ready  to  adjourn  from 
week  to  week  at  the  convenience  of  the  ministry, 
could  find  time  to  discuss  the  grievances  of  five  mil- 
lions of  Irishmen.  That  session  no  Catholic  petition 
was  presented  to  Parliament,  and  thus,  as  O'Connell 
indignantly  exclaimed,  "  has  the  best  opportunity  I 
have  ever  known  of  pressing  emancipation  on  the 
ministry  been  thrown  away  and  lost  for  ever." 

Under  the  circumstances  it  only  remained  to  fall 
back  on  the  alternative  he  had  previously  suggested 
of  joining  the  reformers,  hand  and  heart.  Accord- 
ingly, on  1st  January,  1821,  in  a  "Letter  to  the 
Catholics  of  Ireland,"  he  urged  that  they  should  no 
longer  petition  for  emancipation,  but  for  reform  of 
Parliament.  It  was  time  they  should  be  weary  of 
swelling  the  ranks  of  those 

"  Who  yearly  kneel  before  their  masters'  doors. 
And  hawk  their  wrongs,  as  beggars  do  their  sores." 


LORD    PLUNKET. 
FROM  THE   BUST   BY   CHRISTOPHER   MOORE. 


i 


1822]  The  Kings  Visit.  109 

It  was  useless  —  worse  than  useless  —  to  petition  a 
Parliament  of  virtual  representatives  for  liberty  —  to 
be  again  rejected  and  mocked  by  the  trickery  of  a 
debate,  and  insulted  by  an  unreasoning  majority. 
Let  them  cease  their  separate  and  exclusive  labours. 
Let  them  endeavour  to  amalgamate  the  Catholic, 
the  Protestant,  the  Presbyterian,  the  Dissenter,  the 
Methodist,  the  Quaker,  into  the  Irishman  ;  and,  for- 
getting their  own  individual  wrongs,  call  upon  Irish- 
men of  every  description  to  combine  in  a  noble 
struggle  for  the  natural  and  inherent  rights  of  their 
wretched  country.  Let  their  future  purpose  be  the 
abolition  of  that  faction  which  had  plunged  England 
in  war,  in  debt,  in  distress,  and  involved  Ireland  in 
all  the  miseries  of  the  Union.  Let  them  not  enter 
into  any  quarrels  as  to  the  particular  mode  of  reform  ; 
but  let  them  be  always  governed  by  that  principle 
of  the  constitution  which  justifies  taxation  upon  the 
ground  of  consent  ;  so  that,  without  a  solecism  in 
constitutional  law,  no  man  should  be  taxed  who  is 
not  represented. 

It  was,  it  must  be  confessed,  a  curiously  weak  and 
inconclusive  argument,  clearly  showing  that  O'Con- 
nell  was  trying  rather  to  convince  himself  than  speak- 
ing his  entire  conviction  of  the  wisdom  of  the  step 
he  was  taking.  Naturally  his  pronouncement  at- 
tracted general  attention,  and  was  sharply  com- 
mented upon,  especially  in  vetoistic  circles.  Of  this 
feeling  Sheil  made  himself  the  spokesman.  In  his 
"Answer  to  Mr.  O'Connell's  Address,"  he  had  no 
difficulty  in  pointing  out  the  weak  points  in  his  argu- 
ment—  indeed,    they    lay    on   the     surface.       But 


no  Daniel  0'Co7inell.  11821- 

O'Connell's  suggestion  had  at  least  the  merit  of  sin- 
cerity, which  Sheil's  counterblast  did  not  possess.  It 
was,  however,  an  extremely  clever  production,  and  set 
forth  the  argument  of  the  vetoists  in  its  strongest 
aspect.     O'Connell  treated  it  with  withering  sarcasm. 

"  He  was  at  a  loss,"  he  wrote,  "  to  know  how  he  had 
provoked  the  '  tragic  wrath  and  noble  ire  of  this  iambic 
rhapsodist.*  Nothing,  it  seemed  to  him,  so  unprovoked 
had  ever  appeared  in  the  annals  of  causeless  incivility. 
Mr.  Shell  had  set  out  in  a  passion,  and  preserved  the 
consistency  of  his  rage  to  the  end.  He  reminded  him  of 
a  gentleman  who  was  so  very  angry  an  atheist  that  it  was 
not  safe  for  a  believer  to  address  him  without  prefacing 

his  remark, — '  Mr. ,  I  do  not  mean  you  any  personal 

offence,  but  I  really  believe  in  the  existence  of  a  Deity.' 
So  he  had  to  say  to  Mr.  Sheil,  'Sir,  I  do  not  mean  you 
any  insult, —  indeed  I  do  not, —  but  yet  I  am  fervently, 
aye,  and  disinterestedly,  attached  to  my  religion,  to  my 
country,  and  to  liberty.'  Mr.  Sheil  was,  no  doubt,  in  his 
own  opinion,  a  diamond  of  the  first  water.  He  was  heartily 
welcome  to  sparkle  at  his  expense  ;  but  he  implored  him, 
with  all  the  earnestness  of  the  plainest  prose,  to  refrain 
from  his  sneering  sarcasms  against  the  long-suffering  and 
very  wretched  people  of  Ireland." 

To  be  treated  as  a  meddlesome  nobody  hardly 
suited  Shell's  notions  of  his  own  importance,  and  it 
was  with  some  difficulty  that  he  was  dissuaded  by 
his  friend,  the  younger  Curran,  from  demanding 
personal  satisfaction  from  the  man  he  had  attacked. 
But  it  seemed  as  if  he  was  going  to  reap  a  sweeter 
revenge  than  even  a  well  directed  bullet  could  have 
afforded  him,  in  the  fulfilment  of  his  prophecy.     The 


J 


1822]  The  King's  Visit,  iii 

retirement  of  Canning  from  the  ministry,  on  which 
O'Connell  had  laid  particular  emphasis,  had  not,  it 
appeared,  weakened  the  Catholic  cause,  for  on  28th 
February  the  House  of  Commons  determined  by 
a  majority  of  six  votes  to  resolve  itself  into  commit- 
tee for  the  consideration  of  the  Catholic  claims. 
But  the  appearance  of  Plunket's  Bills  confirmed 
O'Connell's  worst  suspicions.  Not  only  were  the 
Catholics  specially  excluded  from  the  highest  offices 
in  the  State,  but  securities  and  conditions  were  pro- 
nounced to  be  absolutely  indispensable.  O'Connell 
was  at  Limerick  on  circuit  when  the  text  of  the  Bills 
reached  him.  The  situation,  in  his  opinion,  was 
critical  in  the  extreme.  The  Bills  appealed  to  the 
vetoists ;  they  might  pass  both  Houses,  be  sanc- 
tioned by  the  sovereign,  and  the  last  condition  of 
the  Catholics  prove  worse  than  their  first.  Without 
a  moment's  loss  of  time  he  sat  down  and  penned 
another  address  to  the  Catholics,  warning  them 
against  the  insidious  nature  of  the  relief  offered 
them.  His  intention  was  to  pass  a  searching  criti- 
cism on  the  two  Bills.  With  the  first  he  was  soon 
ready.  It  was,  he  admitted,  really  an  Emancipation 
Bill.  Had  it  stood  alone  it  would  have  given  ««- 
qualified vcWei ;  and  such  unqualified  relief,  even  with- 
out being  half  so  extensive,  would  have  been  a  source 
of  lively  and  permanent  gratitude.  But  it  was 
otherwise  when  he  came  to  examine  its  companion  : 
"  Beyond  comparison  more  strictly,  literally,  and 
emphatically  a  penal  and  persecuting  Bill  than  any 
or  all  the  statutes  passed  in  the  darkest  and  most 
bigoted  periods  of  the  reigns  of  Queen  Anne  or  of 


112  Daniel  O'Connell.  [1821- 

the  first  two  Georges."  The  letter,  written  in  the 
intervals  of  professional  duty,  was  published  in  por- 
tions, but  it  was  never  finished.  Before  it  was  com- 
pleted help  came  to  him  from  an  unexpected  quarter. 
After  passing  the  House  of  Commons,  on  i6th  April, 
the  measure  was  rejected  on  its  first  reading  in  the 
House  of  Lords. 

"What  is  to  be  done  now?"  wrote  O'Connell  to 
O'Conor  Don,  with  a  side-glance  at  Sheil  and  his 
friends.  "  Even  the  vetoists  must  admit  that  Se- 
curities do  us  no  good,  because  we  are  kicked  out 
as  unceremoniously  with  them  as  without  them." 
The  announcement  that  George  IV.  would  visit 
Ireland  that  summer  came  like  a  heaven-sent  answer 
to  his  question.  It  was  the  first  time  for  more  than 
a  century  that  their  sovereign  had  thought  it  worth 
his  while  to  visit  Ireland  :  it  was  the  first  time  since 
the  Conquest  that  their  sovereign  had  come  to  them 
as  a  messenger  of  peace.  The  announcement  was 
received  with  infinite  satisfaction,  not  merely  by  that 
class  which  always  feels  a  delight  in  sunning  itself 
in  the  rays  of  royalty,  but  by  the  nation  at  large. 
What  benefits  might  not  be  expected  to  accrue  from 
his  visit  to  poor,  distracted,  down-trodden  Ireland — 
the  Cinderella  of  the  family !  Into  the  reasons  of  it 
they  did  not  stop  to  inquire.  It  was  sufficient  that 
their  sovereign  was  coming.  The  heart  of  the  nation 
thrilled  at  the  good  news.  A  great  wave  of  loyalty 
swept  the  land  from  one  end  to  the  other.  For 
the  nonce  Orangeman  and  Catholic  agreed  to  lay 
aside  their  feud  and  unite  in  giving  their  sovereign 
a  unanimous  welcome.     The  corporation  of  Dublin 


QEORQE  IV. 

FROM   A   PAINTING    BY  SIR  THOMAS    LAWRENCE,    P.R.A.,   IN   THE   NATIONAL   PORTRAIT   GALLERY. 


1822]  The  King's  Visit.  113 

set  the  way,  and  O'Connell  on  his  side  responded 
heartily,  hoping  that  it  might  prove  a  step  towards 
the  reah'sation  of  his  dream,  when  Catholic  and 
Protestant,  Orangeman  and  Ribbonman,  should  be 
merged  in  the  Irishman. 

Nevertheless  the  compromise,  if  such  it  may  be 
called,  was  not  accomplished  without  considerable 
friction.  Neither  the  prospect  of  the  King's  visit, 
nor  the  promise  given  by  the  Lord  Mayor  in  the 
name  of  the  corporation,  could  restrain  the  Orange- 
men from  celebrating  the  12th  of  July  in  the  time- 
honoured  fashion  of  dressing  the  statue  of  King 
William  in  College  Green.  Their  conduct  exasper- 
ated the  Catholics,  and  it  required  all  O'Connell's 
tact  to  prevent  them  from  retaliating  with  a  hostile 
resolution.  By  venting  their  indignation  they  would, 
he  declared,  lose  the  vantage-ground  on  which  they 
stood.  Their  enemies  averred  that  they  did  nothing 
to  conciliate.  He  might  be  called  an  "unhappy 
man,"  but  he  confessed  he  still  hailed  with  joy  the 
day  on  which  the  Lord  Mayor  of  Dublin,  the  deputy 
grand-master  of  the  Orangemen,  made  a  peace-offer- 
ing to  the  Catholics  of  Ireland.  The  admission 
might  expose  him  to  ridicule,  but  he  was  weak 
enough  to  wish  to  see  those  distinctions,  which  had 
been  the  curse  of  his  country,  sunk  in  the  single 
name  of  Irishman,  and  he  was  credulous  enough  to 
think  that  a  consummation  so  devoutly  to  be  desired 
was  by  no  means  impossible.  Mr.  Shell  wanted  to 
address  the  Castle.  By  all  means  let  him  do  so.  He 
would  find  ample  redress!  The  statue  would  never 
be  dressed  again  and  the  Catholics  never  again  be 


114  Daniel  O'Connell.  [i82i- 

insulted  !  Perhaps  they  might  also  be  told  that  the 
co'urts  of  law  were  open  to  them ;  perhaps,  too, 
the  Attorney-General  might  express  his  opinion  on 
the  illegality  of  Orange  associations  and  extol  the 
immense  loyalty  of  the  Catholics !  In  the  end,  it  was 
unanimously  resolved  "  That  notwithstanding  the  un- 
provoked insult  which  has  been  offered  to  public 
feeling  by  the  decoration  of  the  statue  in  College 
Green,  as  a  tribute  of  our  homage  to  his  Majesty,  we 
shall  avoid,  by  any  remonstrance  to  Government,  an 
interruption  of  that  harmony  to  which  we  are  anxious 
to  contribute." 

On  1 2th  August  George  IV.  landed  at  Howth 
amid  the  booming  of  cannons  and  the  clashing  of 
bells.  That  night  Dublin  was  illuminated ;  fires 
blazed  in  the  streets,  and  lights  shone  from  every 
window,  not  the  least  brilliantly  lighted  being 
O'Connell's  own  residence.  The  news  of  Queen 
Caroline's  death  interrupted  the  festivities  for  several 
days;  but  on  17th  August  the  King  entered  Dublin 
in  state.  As  the  royal  cortege,  slowly  winding  its 
way  from  the  viceregal  lodge  past  Phibsborough, 
through  Eccles  Street  and  Cavendish  Row,  passed 
under  the  triumphal  arch,  at  the  top  of  Sackville 
Street,  that  marked  the  bounds  of  the  city  proper, 
a  stupendous  spectacle  broke  upon  the  monarch's 
gaze.  The  whole  of  that  magnificent  thoroughfare, 
from  the  ground  to  the  roofs  of  the  houses,  seemed 
alive  with  human  beings.  Not  a  window  was  empty, 
not  a  single  coign  of  vantage,  not  the  architrave  it- 
self of  the  post-office,  nor  the  very  capstan  on  which 
rested  the  statue  of  Nelson,  was  vacant.     And  if  the 


1822]  The  King 's  Visit.  115 

street,  as  a  wit  remarked,  was  badly  paved,  at  any 
rate  it  was  well  flagged.  Shout  upon  shout  rent  the 
air  as  the  King,  standing  in  his  carriage,  and  evidently 
profoundly  moved  at  the  unexpected  warmth  of  his 
reception,  bowed  to  right  and  left,  pointing  now  to 
his  heart,  now  to  the  large  bunch  of  shamrock  he 
wore  in  his  hat.  Crossing  Carlisle  Bridge  a  similar 
ovation  awaited  him  in  Dame  Street,  and  long  after 
he  had  disappeared  from  sight  behind  the  walls  of  the 
Castle  the  applause  of  the  populace  testified  to  the 
joy  with  which  they  welcomed  their  sovereign.  It 
was  an  unique  experience  in  his  worthless, wasted  life  ; 
it  was  a  new  experience  in  the  dreary  annals  of  Ire- 
land. It  seemed  as  if  the  millennium  had  come  ;  as  if, 
after  centuries  of  oppression,  the  Irish  people,  united 
in  the  bond  of  loyalty,  all  their  party  feuds  and  hat- 
reds forgotten,  had  entered  on  a  new  and  happy 
period  in  their  history.  O'Connell  could  have  wept 
for  joy.  "  One  bright  day  had  realised  all  his  fond 
expectations.  It  was  said  of  St.  Patrick  that  he  had 
power  to  banish  venomous  reptiles  from  the  isle  ; 
but  his  Majesty  had  performed  a  greater  moral  mira- 
cle. The  sound  of  his  approach  had  allayed  the 
dissensions  of  centuries." 

Carried  away  by  the  general  enthusiasm,  he  not 
only  accepted  an  invitation  to  dine  with  the  Lord 
Mayor,  but  presented  himself  at  Court,  put  his  name 
down  as  a  subscriber — and,  what  few  did,  actually 
paid  his  money — for  the  erection  of  a  royal  palace 
to  commemorate  the  King's  visit,  which  was  to  cost 
a  million  of  money,  but  which,  in  default  of  the 
necessary    funds,    eventually   took   the    form    of   a 


ii6  Daniel  0'Co?i7iell, 


[1821- 


bridge  ;  and  if  he  did  not,  as  the  English  newspapers 
asserted,  accompany  the  King  at  his  departure  and, 
literally  kneeling  in  the  water,  present  him  with  a 
laurel  crown,  he  at  least  showed  by  every  act  in  his 
power  that  he,  for  one,  was  willing  to  let  bygones  be 
bygones,  and  to  prove  that  his  Majesty  had  no  more 
loyal  subject  than  he  was.  The  comedy  did  not 
come  to  an  end  with  the  King's  departure,  A  letter 
signed  by  the  Prime  Minister,  thanking  the  nation,  in 
the  King's  name,  for  the  friendly  reception  accorded 
him,  and  recommending  peace  and  unity,  mutual 
forbearance  and  good  will,  was  construed  as  a  hope- 
ful token  of  a  more  liberal  policy  in  the  future  ;  and 
that  it  might  not  remain  a  dead  letter  O'Connell 
founded  a  "  Loyal  Union,  or  Royal  Georgian  Club  " 
in  Dublin,  for  the  express  purpose  of  encouraging 
mutual  forbearance  and  good  will  and  perpetuating 
that  "  affectionate  gratitude  towards  his  Majesty, 
King  George  the  Fourth  (whom  God  preserve),  which 
now  animates  every  Irish  bosom."  The  society 
pledged  itself  to  meet  and  dine  together  at  least  six 
times  a  year,  each  member  dressed  in  cloth  of  Irish 
manufacture  and  in  the  colours  worn  by  the  citizens 
of  Dublin  on  the  auspicious  day  of  his  Majesty's 
public  entry  into  the  city. 

Meanwhile  a  scornful  world  looked  on  and  laughed 
at  the  sad  spectacle,  and  Byron,  in  the  name  of  com- 
mon sense  and  decency,  lashed  both  O'Connell  and 
the  nation  for  their  servility  in  scathing  verse. 

"  Ere  the  daughter  of  Brunswick  is  cold  in  her  grave, 
And  her  ashes  still  float  to  their  home  o'er  the  tide, 


t822]  The  King's  Visit.  117 

Lo  !  George  the  Triumphant  speeds  over  the  wave 
To  the  long-cherished  isle,  which  he  loved  like  his 
— bride. 


"  But  he  comes  !  the  Messiah  of  royalty  comes  ! 
Like  a  goodly  Leviathan  rolled  from  the  waves  ; 
Then  receive  him  as  best  such  an  advent  becomes, 
With  a  legion  of  cooks  and  an  army  of  slaves. 

"  He  comes  in  the  promise  and  bloom  of  three-score, 
To  perform  in  the  pageant  the  sovereign's  part — 
But  long  live  the  shamrock  which  shadows  him  o'er, 
Could  the  green  in  his  hat  be  transferred  to  his  heart ! 

"  Could  that  long-withered  spot  but  be  verdant  again, 
And  a  new  spring  of  noble  affections  arise — 
Then  might  freedom   forgive  thee  this  dance   in  thy 
chain. 
And  this  shout  of  thy  slavery  which  saddens  the  skies. 

"  Is  it  madness,  or  meanness  which  clings  to  thee  now  ? 
Were  he  God — as  he  is  but  the  commonest  clay, 
With  scarce  fewer  wrinkles  than  sins  on  his  brow — 
Such  servile  devotion  might  shame  him  away. 

"  Wear,  Fingal,  thy  trapping  !     O'Connell,  proclaim 

His  accomplishments!     His  ! !  !    and  thy  country 
convince 
Half  an  age's  contempt  was  an  error  of  fame. 

And  that  Hal  is  the  rascaliest,  sweetest  _>'^2^«^  prince  ! 

"  Ah  !  build  him  a  dwelling  !  Let  each  give  his  mite  ! 
Till,  like  Babel,  the  new  royal  dome  hath  arisen  ! 


ii8  Daniel  O'Connell.  [1821- 

Let  thy  beggars  and  helots  their  pittance  unite — 
And  a  palace  bestow  for  a  poorhouse  and  prison  ! 

"  Spread, — spread  for  Vitellius  the  royal  repast, 

Till  the  gluttonous  despot  be  stuffed  to  the  gorge  ! 
And  the  roar  of  his  drunkards  proclaim  him  at  last 
The   Fourth   of    the    fools    and   oppressors  called 
'  George ' ! 

"  Shout,  drink,  feast,  and  flatter  !  Oh  !  Erin,  how  low 
Wert  thou  sunk  by  misfortune  and  tyranny,  till 
Thy  welcome  of  tyrants  hath  plunged  thee  below 
The  depth  of  thy  deep  in  a  deeper  gulf  stilL" 

The  awakening  came  in  the  end,  and  no  one  felt 
the  disappointment  more  keenly  than  did  O'Connell. 
A  few  weeks  after  the  King's  departure  Sheil  neatly 
summed  up  the  situation — "  Love  one  another,  said 
the  King:  Hate  one  another,  said  the  law,  and  the 
law  was  speedily  obeyed."  Still  nothing  would  con- 
vince O'Connell  that  he  had  not  acted  for  the  best, 
and  the  more  his  conduct  was  impugned  the  more 
obstinately  did  he  defend  it.  Years  after\vards,  re- 
verting to  the  subject,  he  said  : 

"  This  was  the  most  critical  period  of  my  political  life, 
and  that  in  which  I  had  the  good  fortune  to  be  most 
successful.  If  I  have  any  merit  for  the  success  of  the 
Catholic  cause,  it  is  principally  to  be  found  in  the  mode 
in  which  I  neutralised  the  most  untoward  events  and 
converted  the  most  sinister  appearances  and  circum- 
stances into  the  utmost  extent  of  practical  usefulness  to 
the  cause  of  which  I  was  the  manager,  ,  ,  .  I  am 
entitled  to  this  fact,  that  no  part   of  my  political  life 


]822]  The  King's  Visit.  119 

obtained,  I  will  say  deservedly,  so  much  of  the  gratitude 
and  confidence  of  my  countrymen  as  the  mode  in  which 
I  was  able  to  convert  the  King's  visit  to  Ireland  from 
being  a  source  of  weakness  and  discomfiture  to  the 
Catholics  into  a  future  claim  for  practical  relief  and 
political  equalisation." 

But,  if  it  is  impossible  to  concede  O'Connell's  claim 
to  have  acted  either  wisely  or  with  dignity,  it  must  be 
allowed  that  personal  considerations  had  little  to  do 
with  his  conduct,  for  between  him  and  George  IV. 
there  was  little  love  lost.  Moreover,  it  must  be 
granted  that  the  Catholics,  under  his  guidance, 
acted  with  admirable  self-restraint,  and  if  their  demand 
for  emancipation  was  disregarded,  their  attitude 
strengthened  the  hands  of  their  friends  in  Parliament 
and  in  the  ministry  itself.  Emancipation,  indeed, 
had  now  become  an  open  question,  and  the  division 
in  the  Cabinet  reflected  itself  in  Ireland  in  the  inaugu- 
ration of  what  was  not  inaptly  called  a  "  sandwich 
system,"  having  for  its  object  the  conciliation  of 
both  Catholics  and  Protestants. 

In  December  Lord  Talbot  was  recalled,  and  the 
Marquis  of  Wellesley  appointed  Viceroy  in  his  place. 
As  a  friend  of  the  Catholics  his  appointment,  it  was 
hoped,  would  conciliate  them  ;  but  that  it  might  not 
alarm  the  Protestants,  or  give  rise  to  the  idea  that 
any  change  of  system  was  intended,  Henry  Goul- 
burn,  who  was  generally  believed  to  be  a  member  of 
the  Orange  Society,  was  joined  with  him  as  Chief 
Secretary.  So  far  neither  side  had  reason  to  be 
offended.  But  Wellesley  in  taking  office  had  stipul- 
ated for  the  removal  of  Saurin  and  the  appointment 


I20  Daniel  O'CotiTtelL 


[1821- 


of  Plunket  as  Attorney-General.  This  for  two 
reasons :  First,  because  he  felt  it  desirable  to  have 
someone  sharing  his  opinions  to  represent  him  in 
the  House  of  Commons,  and  secondly,  because  he 
recognised  that  the  retention  of  Saurin,  who  repre- 
sented implacable  resistance  to  the  Catholic  claims, 
was  impossible  if  conciliation  and  not  coercion  was 
to  be  the  order  of  the  day.  It  had  been  intended 
to  soften  his  removal  by  appointing  him  Chief- 
Justice  of  the  King's  Bench,  with  an  Irish  or  even 
an  English  peerage  ;  but  Saurin  indignantly  declined 
any  compensation,  whereupon  Wellesley  seized  the 
opportunity  to  make  Bushe,  to  whose  eloquence  and 
impartiality  O'Connell  had  testified  on  the  occasion 
of  Magee's  trial,  Chief- Justice.  His  action  exposed 
him  to  the  fierce  attacks  of  the  Orangemen.  In 
explaining  his  conduct  Wellesley  is  reported  to  have 
said : 

"  I  have  been  told  that  I  have  ill-treated  Mr.  Saurin. 
I  offered  him  the  Chief-Justiceship  of  the  King's  Bench  ; 
that  was  not  ill-treating  him.  I  offered  him  an  English 
peerage  ;  that  was  not  ill-treating  him.  I  did  not^  it  is 
true,  continue  him  in  the  viceroyalty  of  Ireland,  for  / 
am  the  Viceroy  of  Ireland." 

The  Catholics  were  jubilant  at  the  courage  of  the 
new  Viceroy,  and  O'Connell,  with  his  usual  impulsive- 
ness to  see  good  in  the  most  trivial  actions,  was  loud 
in  his  praise.  On  7th  January,  1822,  the  Catholics 
met  to  vote  an  address  of  welcome  to  the  Lord 
Lieutenant,  and  in  moving  it  O'Connell  gave  ex- 
pression to  the  general  satisfaction  which  his  first 


1822]  The  King's  Visit.  121 

measures  had  created.  "  He  could  not,"  he  said, 
"  regard  him  otherwise  than  as  a  representative,  not 
only  of  power,  but  also  of  the  kindly  disposition  of 
our  beloved  sovereign  ;  and  therefore  it  was  their 
duty,  as  well  as  their  pleasure,  to  testify  their  respect 
towards  him  in  the  most  emphatic  manner."  The 
address,  seconded  by  Shell,  whose  production  it 
was,  was  graciously  received  by  his  Excellency.  But 
O'Connell  was  not  content  to  rest  on  his  oars. 
Something  had,  it  was  true,  been  achieved  ;  but  not 
as  yet  emancipation,  and  he  well  knew  what  con- 
struction would  be  placed  on  their  inaction.  Ac- 
cordingly, without  any  loss  of  time,  he  issued  another 
stirring  address  to  the  Catholics.  Their  liberty,  he 
reminded  them,  could  not  be  obtained  without  an 
effort  on  their  own  part.  The  appointment  of  the 
Marquis  of  Wellesley  and  the  substitution  of  Plun- 
ket  for  Saurin  were  circumstances  that  cheered  them 
amidst  that  sickness  of  heart  which  arose  from  hope 
deferred.  Last  year  they  had  not  petitioned  Par- 
liament, but  events  had  since  occurred  to  induce 
them  to  make  one  exertion  more  to  obtain  from  the 
British  Parliament  that  liberty  which  they  knew  to 
be  their  right,  but  which  they  were  ready  to  receive 
with  all  the  affectionate  gratitude  due  to  the  most 
gratuitous  boon.  If  they  were  again  defeated,  they 
must  patiently  abide  the  great  march  of  events,  and 
hope  for  that  tide  of  national  reform  which,  though 
repulsed  for  the  moment,  was  gaining  ground  with 
every  breaker.  The  question  arose  as  to  what  form 
their  petition  should  take.  It  was  clear  that  men's 
minds  were  divided  on  the  subject  of  the  veto.     It 


122  Daniel  O'Connel/.  [1821- 

was  evident  that  it  had  become  a  fixed  principle  with 
some  of  their  advocates  that  emancipation  must  be 
accompanied  with  some  Securities  against  foreign 
influence  in  the  appointment  of  their  bishops.  It 
therefore  behoved  them  to  consider  what  conditions 
they  could  consent  to  without  infringing  the  integ- 
rity of  their  religion.  With  this  object  in  view  he 
had  himself  drawn  up  a  scheme  for  the  domestic 
nomination  of  their  prelates,  which  did  not,  in  his 
opinion,  infringe  the  liberties  of  the  Church,  and  at  the 
same  time  offered  all  reasonable  security  to  the  State. 
In  the  framing  of  it  he  had  Plunket's  advice,  but  if, 
on  consideration  of  it,  it  was  felt  that  no  fragment 
of  that  sacred  edifice,  which  their  ancestors  had  left 
them  as  a  most  precious  inheritance,  could  be  touched 
with  safety,  why,  then,  let  them  one  and  all  resolve, 
in  the  name  of  God,  not  to  accept  any  civil  rights 
at  the  expense  of  any  danger  whatsoever  to  their 
religion. 

An  aggregate  meeting  on  13th  February  voted  in 
favour  of  petitioning,  but  it  again  happened  that  no 
petition  was  presented  to  Parliament.  The  state  of 
the  country  at  large  and  the  recrudescence  of  agra- 
rian crime  rendered  it,  in  Plunket's  opinion,  inadvis- 
able and,  indeed,  hopeless  to  broach  the  question. 
Instead  of  emancipation  came  an  Insurrection  Act. 
The  brutal  callousness  of  the  remedy  exasperated 
O'Connell.  That  disturbances  existed,  especially  in 
the  counties  of  Cork,  Limerick,  and  Kerry,  where 
the  orders  of  "  Captain  Rock  "  found  too  ready 
obedience,  he  admitted  ;  but  no  one,  he  insisted, 
dreamed  of  connecting  the  Roman  Catholics  as  a 


1822]  TheKing^s  Visit.  123 

body  with  them,  and  it  was  as  unjust  as  it  was  impos- 
sible to  punish  the  whole  country  in  order  to  suppress 
some  isolated  cases  of  outrage.  Still  it  was,  he  felt, 
no  time  to  start  a  constitutional  agitation,  which 
might  be  construed  by  their  enemies  as  complicity 
in  the  agrarian  movement,  and  it  was  with  a  heavy 
heart  that  he  recognised  the  necessity  of  letting  the 
subject  rest.  The  fact  was,  that  in  his  attempt  to 
administer  the  law  impartially  Lord  Wellesley  had 
managed  to  alienate  the  sympathies  of  both  parties 
in  the  State.  Anxious  above  all  to  steer  a  neutral 
course,  he  had,  instead  of  conciliating,  only  succeeded 
in  offending  the  Orangemen  and  Catholics  by  turns. 
To  the  former  the  removal  of  Saurin,  to  the  latter 
the  Insurrection  Act,  was  an  inexpiable  crime. 

The  1 2th  July  approached,  and  the  Orangemen 
gave  signs  of  their  intention  to  celebrate  the  time- 
honoured  custom  of  dressing  the  statue  of  King  Wil- 
liam. The  day  before  the  anniversary,  O'Connell 
addressed  a  public  letter  to  the  Marquis  of  Wellesley. 

**  To-morrow,"  he  wrote,  "  will  finally  decide  the  charac- 
ter of  your  administration.  The  oppressed  and  neglected 
Catholics  of  Ireland  had  fondly  hoped  that  they  might 
have  obtained  from  ?i  friend,  placed  in  the  exalted  situa- 
tion which  your  Excellency  occupies,  a  recommendation 
in  favour  of  their  claims.  You  took  an  early  opportunity 
to  crush  that  hope  for  ever.  In  your  reply  to  the  Ad- 
dress of  the  Catholics  of  the  county  of  Clare,  you  told 
the  Irish  people  that  you  came  here  to  '  administer  the 
laws,  not  to  alter  them.'  My  lord,  but  a  few  weeks  elapsed 
when  you  deemed  it  expedient  to  recommend  the  Insur- 
rection Act,  and  the  Act  to  suspend  the  Habeas  Corpus. 


124  Daniel  O'Connell.  [1821- 

That  the  latter  was  not  needed  is  now  admitted  by  every- 
body ;  and  that  any  necessity  is  a  justification  of  the  former 
remains,  in  my  humble  judgment,  to  be  proved.  But  let 
these  pass.  It  still  remains  for  your  Excellency  to  ad- 
minister the  laws.  .  .  .  My  Lord,  I  most  respectfully, 
but  at  the  same  time  most  firmly,  call  upon  you  to  admin- 
ister them.  The  exhibition  intended  (it  is  said)  for  to- 
morrow is  plainly  a  violation  of  the  law.  It  is  an  open 
and  public  excitement  to  a  breach  of  the  peace — it  is  a 
direct  provocation  to  tumult — it  obstructs  the  public 
streets,  by  collecting  on  the  one  side  an  insulting,  and  on 
the  other  an  irritated,  concourse  of  persons.  ...  As 
you  cannot  alter,  I  again  respectfully,  dutifully,  but 
firmly  call  upon  you  Xo  administer  the  law  zwdio  suppress 
an  illegal  and  insulting  nuisance." 

This  strong  remonstrance  was  not  without  its  effect 
on  the  Viceroy,  and  he  made  a  feeble  attempt  to 
persuade  the  Orange  leaders  to  desist  from  the  irri- 
tating custom.  But  his  entreaties  were  disregarded, 
and  next  day  the  statue  was  dressed  as  usual.  The 
event,  so  far  as  O'Connell  was  concerned,  had  de- 
cided the  character  of  the  administration. 

It  was,  therefore,  with  a  feeling  of  intense  relief  at 
escaping  from  an  intolerable  situation  that,  when  the 
vacation  came  round,  he  set  out  to  join  his  wife  at 
Pau,  in  the  south  of  France,  whither  he  had  sent  her 
early  in  the  year  for  the  benefit  of  her  health.  After 
spending  several  delicious  weeks  there  in  the  bosom 
of  his  family,  and  escorting  them  as  far  as  Tours, 
where  they  were  to  pass  the  winter,  he  returned  to 
Ireland.  The  situation  had  hardly  altered  during 
his  absence.     The  Orangemen  were  busy,  when  he 


1822]  The  King's  Visit.  125 

reached  Dublin,  with  their  preparations  for  celebrat- 
ing the  birthday  of  their  patron  King,  whose  char- 
acter they  ignorantly  maligned,  with  greater  splendour 
than  usual.  But  the  failure  to  prevent  by  entreaty 
the  outrage  that  had  occurred  on  12th  July  had  con- 
strained the  Viceroy  to  take  stronger  measures.  The 
ceremony  of  dressing  William's  statue  was  prohibited, 
and  on  the  morning  of  4th  November  a  body  of  sol- 
diers was  posted  in  College  Green  to  see  that  his 
orders  were  executed.  It  is  said  that  an  adventurous 
Orangeman  did  actually,  before  the  dawn  broke, 
manage  to  throw  a  few  trappings  over  it ;  but  the 
celebration  was  prevented.  The  Orangemen  were 
wild  with  indignation,  and  it  was  even  said  that 
Saurin  had  pronounced  the  Viceroy's  conduct  to  be 
illegal.  They  had  long  been  angry  with  him,  and 
even  his  presence  at  their  banquets  had  failed  to  sup- 
press the  fashionable  toast  "  to  the  exports  of  Ire- 
land,"— an  equivocal  rendering  of  the  old  saying,  "  A 
good  riddance  to  bad  rubbish," — with  which  his  de- 
parture from  the  room  was  hailed. 

On  14th  December  these  outrages  on  decency 
reached  their  climax.  That  evening  the  Viceroy  vis- 
ited the  Theatre  Royal  in  state.  On  entering  the 
viceregal  box  he  was  hailed  with  cheers  mingled  with 
groans  and  hisses.  As  the  play,  She  Stoops  to  Conquer, 
proceeded  the  hisses  and  groans  became  more  dis- 
tinct, and  shouts  were  heard  from  the  gallery  of  "A 
groan  for  Wellesley  !  "  "  No  Popish  governors !  " 
When  the  curtain  fell  the  band  played  "  God  save 
the  King"  and  "St.  Patrick's  Day."  During  the 
music,  first  an  apple  hit  the  viceregal  box,  then  came 


126  Daniel  O'Connell.  11821- 

an  empty  quart  bottle,  which,  striking  the  box  just 
above  the  Viceroy's  head,  rebounded  into  the  or- 
chestra. The  theatre  presented  a  scene  of  wild 
excitement ;  ladies  fainted  ;  shouts  of  "  Seize  the 
miscreant ! "  mingled  with  groans  and  hisses  resounded 
from  all  sides,  when  suddenly  a  large  piece  of  wood, 
part  of  a  watchman's  rattle,  hit  the  cushion  in  front 
of  the  box  and  fell  on  to  the  stage.  The  confusion 
that  followed  was  indescribable.  In  the  midst  of 
the  tumult  the  Marquis  was  seen  to  rise  from  his 
seat  and,  pointing  to  a  corner  in  the  gallery,  to 
address  a  few  words  to  an  aide-de-camp.  In  con- 
sequence of  the  riot  several  persons  were  arrested ; 
but  neither  in  Dublin  nor  in  London  was  the  Govern- 
ment able  to  obtain  a  conviction.  A  subsequent  in- 
quiry in  the  House  of  Commons  revealed  the  strength 
and  solidarity  of  the  Orange  Society,  and  showed 
how  the  institution  of  the  jury  was  but  as  clay  in 
the  hands  of  the  potter  to  those  who  were  allowed 
to  form  the  panel. 

Public  sympathy  was,  however,  unmistakably  on 
the  side  of  the  Viceroy.  Men  of  different  political 
and  religious  creeds  met  together  and  passed  resolu- 
tions condoling  with  him  on  the  insult  offered  to  him. 
At  one  of  these  meetings,  in  the  Royal  Exchange  on 
20th  December,  with  Lord  Mayor  Fleming  in  the 
chair,  O'Connell,  after  alluding  to  the  incident  which 
had  aroused  the  indignation,  sorrow,  and  shame  of  the 
country,  touched  lightly  on  the  events  which  had 
preceded  this  last  unparallelled  atrocity.  These 
events,  he  said,  it  would,  perhaps,  be  better  to  for- 
get ;  and  taking  this  atrocity  for  an  example  of  the 


1822]  The  King's  Visit.  127 

baneful  and  dangerous  excesses  of  illegal  associa- 
tions of  every  description,  they  should  all  unite  and 
join  in  the  universal  inculcation  of  the  salutary 
lesson,  that  loyalty,  to  be  genuine,  should  be  ra- 
tional ;  and  that  loyalty  was  not  the  peculiar  prerog- 
ative of  one  sect  or  another,  but  was  the  legitimate 
and  appropriate  characteristic  of  all  his  Majesty's 
subjects,  of  every  class,  every  rank,  and  every  de- 
nomination. The  sermon  was  in  fact  intended  quite 
as  much  for  his  own  followers,  the  Catholics,  as  for 
their  enemies,  the  Orangemen.  How  deeply  he 
had  been  impressed  by  the  revival  of  agrarian  out- 
rage in  the  south  of  Ireland,  followed  as  it  had  been 
by  the  Insurrection  Act,  every  speech  delivered  by 
him  at  this  time  testifies.  How  often  had  he  im- 
plored his  countrymen  to  refrain  from  deeds  of 
lawlessness  lest  a  worse  evil  should  befall  them ! 
And  now  the  evil  had  happened.  What  a  handle 
had  they  given  to  their  enemies  !  What  a  pretext  not 
only  to  refuse  to  emancipate  them,  but  to  load  their 
slavery  with  more  grievous  shackles !  It  was  true, 
he  admitted,  that  crime  had  abounded  in  the  south. 
The  Irish  peasantry,  in  the  insanity  of  their  poverty 
and  wretchedness,  had  taken  up  arms.  In  the  dark 
hour  of  midnight,  they  prowled  to  the  perpetration 
of  horrible  excesses.  Of  these  he  was  not,  God  for- 
bid he  should  be,  in  the  most  distant  degree,  the 
apologist ;  but  it  should  be  remembered  that  their 
wants  and  their  wretchedness  were  extreme :  it 
should  not  be  forgotten  that  the  weight  of  their 
misery  pressed  upon  them  so  heavily  as  to  provoke 
them  in  some  degree  to  burst  those  bonds  of  order. 


128  Daniel  O'Connell.  [i82l- 

which,  under  any  circumstances,  it  was  their  bounden 
duty  to  observe  and  revere. 

But  something  more  than  sympathy,  he  felt,  was 
needed  if  the  Irish  peasantry  were  to  be  saved  from 
the  consequences  of  their  poverty  and  their  crime.  To 
weep  with  those  who  wept  was  doubtless  very  beauti- 
ful, but  it  was  also  very  useless.  And  it  was  eminently 
characteristic  of  O'Connell  that  he  no  sooner  recog- 
nised a  grievance  than  he  tried  to  find  a  practical 
remedy  for  it.  Emancipation  and  the  admission  of 
the  Catholics  to  the  full  enjoyment  of  civil  rights 
was  the  object  at  which  he  aimed — not,  indeed,  the 
great  object  of  his  life,  which  was  the  restoration  to 
Ireland  of  her  rights  as  a  nation.  But  practical  good 
government,  the  impartial  administration  of  the  laws, 
the  removal  of  crying  grievances — these  were  much 
more  to  him  than  any  ideal.  And  it  was  only 
because  he  saw  in  emancipation  and  the  restoration 
of  national  rights  the  realisation  of  these  objects 
that  he  struggled  to  obtain  them.  Emancipation 
was  a  step  to  Repeal :  both  merely  a  means  to  good 
government.  Meanwhile  the  question  that  he  had 
to  face  was  how  to  get  at  these  famine-,  pestilence-, 
outrage-stricken  peasants?  How  make  them  listen 
to  the  voice  of  wisdom  and  refrain  from  playing  into 
the  hands  of  their  enemies?  In  England,  men  had 
no  time  to  think  of  Ireland.  They  were  ignorant 
and  indifferent  as  to  the  causes  of  her  distress. 
Parliament  was  too  far  off,  and  acts  of  coercion  were 
easier  of  manipulation  than  acts  to  redress  grievances. 
In  Ireland  itself,  since  the  collapse  of  the  feeble 
successor  of  the  Catholic  Board,  there  was  no  body 


1822] 


The  King's  Visit. 


129 


of  public  opinion  to  which  the  peasants  could  refer 
themselves  for  advice ;  no  one  to  stand  between 
them  and  their  enemies.  Ever  that  horrible  Con- 
vention Act  blocked  the  way.  To  get  rid  of  it  was 
impossible.  How  to  evade  it  ?  Long  and  deeply, 
all  through  the  winter  of  that  terrible  year,  1822, 
did  O'Connell  ponder  over  the  problem.  The  solu- 
tion came  in  the  end,  and  unexpectedly  brought 
with  it  the  solution  of  the  greater  problem  of 
emancipation. 


CHAPTER  VII. 

FOUNDATION  OF  THE  CATHOLIC  ASSOCIATION. 
1 823- 1 824. 

ONE  day  towards  the  latter  end  of  April,  1823, 
O'Connell  and  a  number  of  Catholic  gentle- 
men met  together  in  Dempsey's  tavern, 
in  Sackville  Street.  It  was  a  place  well  known  to 
Dublin  citizens  who  loved  a  good  glass  of  wine  and 
a  well-cooked  chop  or  steak.  Added  to  these  attrac- 
tions, it  possessed  a  large,  lofty  room,  which,  when 
the  tavern  was  succeeded  by  Tyrrel's  Library, 
formed  the  reading-room  of  that  institution.  It  was 
this  latter  fact  that  had  drawn  O'Connell  and  his 
friends  thither,  and  the  fame  of  tavern  and  library 
has  yielded  to  that  of  the  little  meeting.  For  it 
was  here  that  the  mighty  Catholic  Association,  that 
shook  the  whole  social  fabric  of  Ireland  to  its  basis, 
that  wrested  emancipation  from  a  hostile  administra- 
tion and  made  its  influence  felt  on  the  bourses  of 
Europe,  had  its  birth.  The  meeting  had  been  con- 
vened at  the  requisition  of  O'Connell  and  Shell  in 
order  to  consider  the  state  of  the  Catholic  question. 
Of  late  years  there  had  been  a  practical  suspension 

130 


1823-1824]         The  Catholic  Association.  131 

of  agitation,  and  things  had  gone  backward  rather 
than  forward  with  them.  At  the  same  time,  how- 
ever, the  old  quarrel  over  the  veto  had  lost  much  of 
its  asperity,  and  no  longer  formed  an  insuperable 
obstacle  to  a  reunion  of  all  parties.  A  new  genera- 
tion, too,  had  been  springing  up,  and  was  beginning 
to  take  an  active  part  in  public  affairs.  Suffering 
had  softened  men's  feelings  toward  each  other,  and 
there  was  no  longer  that  antagonism  between  class 
and  class  that  had  worked  havoc  in  their  councils 
of  the  past. 

Moving  Lord  Killeen,  the  Earl  of  Fingal's  son, 
who  to  high  rank  added  sound  views  and  a  lofty 
spirit  of  independence  unusual  in  a  Catholic  peer, 
into  the  chair,  O'Connell  rose  to  explain  the  object 
of  the  meeting.  It  was,  he  said,  clear  to  everybody 
that  the  state  of  the  Catholics  of  Ireland  was  at  the 
moment  more  degrading,  if  not  more  hopeless,  than  it 
had  ever  been.  No  one,  on  the  contrary,  could  ac- 
cuse their  enemies,  the  Orangemen,  of  supineness. 
They  were  not  only  ready  to  use  their  opportunities, 
but  to  abuse  them  to  the  uttermost,  whenever  it  was 
in  their  power,  and  it  was  useless  to  conceal  that,  if 
things  went  on  as  they  had  recently  done,  Catholic 
life  and  property  would  not  in  a  little  time  be  com- 
monly safe,  even  in  the  capital  itself.  Under  the 
circumstances,  it  was  dangerous  to  leave  the  people 
without  some  body  of  recognised  friends  to  whom 
they  could  turn  in  their  distresses  and  maddening 
sufferings  for  counsel,  sympathy,  and  what  aid  there 
might  be  the  means  of  giving.  The  meeting  had 
been  called  to  consider  the  possibility  of  forming 


132  Daniel  O'Connell.  [1823- 

some  such  public  body.  The  recommendation  was 
approved,  and  at  a  subsequent  meeting  it  was  re- 
solved to  submit  the  suggestion  to  an  aggregate  as- 
sembly to  be  held  on  loth  May. 

On  that  day  Townshend  Street  chapel  was  filled 
with  a  concourse  of  Catholics  anxious  to  listen  to 
O'Connell's  exposition  of  his  scheme  for  the  estab- 
lishment of  a  Catholic  Association.  What,  he  asked 
them,  after  briefly  reviewing  the  course  of  events 
since  the  King's  visit,  what  had  been  the  result  of 
their  having  so  meritoriously  conducted  themselves  ? 
Had  it  not  been  that  their  cause  was  abandoned ; 
that  they  had  neglected  their  duty  to  themselves  ? 
They  had  lain  quiescent,  and  permitted  the  daily 
promulgation  of  Orange  calumny,  fearful  of  infring- 
ing the  commands  of  their  sovereign.  But  there 
was  a  point  beyond  which  experiment  became  dan- 
gerous. The  Catholics  were  men — they  were  Irish- 
men, and  felt  within  their  burning  breasts  the  force 
of  natural  rights  and  the  injustice  of  unnatural  op- 
pression. It  was  impossible  that  they  should  ever 
lie  like  torpid  slaves  under  the  lash  of  their  oppress- 
ors. It  was  useless  any  longer  to  leave  the  interests 
of  five  millions  of  men,  excluded  from  the  benefits 
of  the  constitution,  to  the  mere  eleemosynary  protec- 
tion of  their  advocates  in  Parliament,  who,  however 
well  disposed  to  shield  them  from  the  persecu- 
tion, insult,  and  injustice  of  their  oppressors,  had 
neither  the  opportunities  of  becoming  acquainted 
with  their  daily  grievances,  nor  the  time  to  devote 
to  the  study  of  the  particular  and  peculiar  circum- 
stances of  their  situation.     Rather  should  it  be  their 


1824]  The  Catholic  Association.  133 

care  to  attend  to  their  own  local  affairs  and,  by  the 
information  they  thereby  obtained,  to  assist  their 
parliamentary  advocates  in  bringing  to  the  contest 
useful  and  important  knowledge  as  to  the  effects  of 
the  disabilities  under  which  they  groaned.  When  a 
Catholic  Association  existed,  had  they  not  succeeded, 
by  addressing  the  suffering  peasantry,  in  quelling 
three  different  attempts  at  insurrection  ?  Had  a 
Catholic  Association  at  the  time  existed,  would  they 
not  have  been  able  to  warn  the  unsuspecting  peas- 
antry against  the  villainy  of  persons  who  had  an 
actual  interest  in  promoting  disaffection  ?  Had  the 
Association  existed,  how  many  of  their  peasantry 
would  have  been  saved  to  their  families  and  homes  ? 
Their  advice  would  have  been  listened  to,  because  it 
would  have  been  known  to  be  honest,  and  the  coun- 
try would  have  been  spared  the  infringement  of  the 
constitution  and  the  enormous  expense  of  an  addi- 
tional police,  with  the  irritation  occasioned  by  sec- 
tarian yeomanry  corps,  which  served  no  other  purpose 
than  to  perpetuate  strife  and  create  a  natural  desire 
of  revenge  in  the  opposite  parties.  He  begged  to 
move  the  establishment  of  a  Catholic  Association, 
and  the  loud  and  prolonged  cheers  with  which  his 
proposal  was  greeted  testified  to  the  approval  of 
his  audience. 

The  first  step  had  been  taken.  A  Catholic  Asso- 
ciation was  to  be  founded  ;  but  the  machinery  that 
was  to  work  it  still  remained  to  be  invented.  A  day 
or  two  afterwards  an  informal  meeting  was  held  in 
Dempsey's  tavern.  At  O'Connell's  suggestion,  such 
gentlemen  as  found  themselves  present  at  it  resolved 


134  Daniel  O'Connell.  ti823- 

themselves  into  a  Catholic  Association.  The  annual 
subscription  entitling  to  membership  was  fixed  at 
one  guinea,  and  the  place  of  meeting  Coyne's  book- 
shop, No.  4  Capel  Street.  About  fifty  gentlemen  at 
once  subscribed  their  guineas,  and  with  the  ardour 
proper  to  new  societies  the  Association  met  next  day 
at  Coyne's ;  but  the  first  regular  meeting  was  post- 
poned till  20th  May.  It  was  called  to  consider  the 
question  of  the  appointment  of  a  Catholic  chaplain 
to  Newgate  gaol.  The  Association  at  once  took 
fright.  The  terrors  of  the  Convention  Act  loomed 
horridly  before  them,  and  an  attempt  was  made  to 
get  rid  of  the  dangerous  topic  by  moving  an  adjourn- 
ment on  the  ground  that  the  society  was  not  suflfi- 
ciently  organised  to  occupy  itself  with  matters  of 
such  deep  importance  !  O'Connell  had  to  remind 
them  that  the  object  of  the  Association  was  not  to 
force  on  Parliament  the  annual  farce,  or,  more 
properly,  a  triennial  interlude  of  a  debate  on  the 
Catholic  claims.  Their  purpose  was  with  practical 
and  not  abstract  questions — to  shame  the  advocates 
of  an  unwise  system,  and,  by  exposing  its  corruption 
in  all  its  branches,  to  show  that  it  worked  badly  and 
impracticably  for  the  country.  He  trusted  they 
should  have  the  assistance  of  men  of  every  religious 
creed  in  melting  down  sectarian  acrimony  into  a 
community  of  Irish  feeling.  There  were  many 
grievances  under  which  the  poor  and  unprotected 
Catholic  peasant  smarted  that  would  not  admit  of 
waiting  for  redress  until  the  day  of  emancipation 
arrived,  and  that  might  well  be  made  the  subjects  of 
separate  application  to  Parliament  and  the  laws. 


I 


1824]  The  Catholic  Association.  135 

But  all  his  eloquence  was  insufficient  to  inspire 
them  with  the  necessary  ardour  to  face  the  danger 
and  drudgery  of  the  work.  A  week  after  its  first 
meeting,  the  Association  was  adjourned  for  lack  of 
ten  members  to  form  the  necessary  quorum.  It  was 
dispiriting  to  O'Connell,  after  a  hard  day's  work  in 
the  Four  Courts,  to  hurry  up  to  Coyne's,  time  after 
time,  to  find  himself  and  O'Gorman  the  sole  occu- 
pants of  the  room.  Still  he  refused  to  be  discouraged, 
and  on  14th  June  he  had  the  hardihood  to  congratu- 
late the  few  loiterers  whom  idleness  or  curiosity  had 
attracted  into  the  room  on  the  diminution  of  crime 
that  had  occurred  during  the  few  weeks  the  Associa- 
tion had  existed. 

The  vacation  he  again  spent  abroad  with  his  wife 
in  France,  returning  to  Ireland  towards  the  latter  end 
of  October.  All  the  while  he  had  been  pondering 
how  to  make  the  Association  more  popular,  and  to 
awaken  a  wider  interest  in  its  aims  and  objects. 
And  it  hardly  needed  the  first  few  weeks  that  fol- 
lowed his  return  to  show  him  that,  unless  something 
was  done,  and  that  speedily,  there  was  a  danger  of 
the  whole  movement  collapsing.  The  narrow  two- 
roomed  floor  above  Coyne's  book-shop  barely  at 
best  half-filled ;  the  intermittent  attendance  of 
members,  some  of  whom  had  not  even  paid  their 
subscriptions  ;  the  bored  air  with  which  they  listened 
to  his  speeches  on  the  rights  of  Catholic  sepulture, 
tithes,  etc.  ;  the  irregularity  and  indecent  haste  of 
their  proceedings  ;  the  impatience  with  which  they 
awaited  the  conclusion  of  the  business  that  should 
allow  them  to  return  to  their  homes  ;  the  frequent 


136  Daniel  O'Connell.  [1823- 

adjournments  that  occurred  owing  to  the  impossi- 
bility of  getting  a  quorum  of  ten  together;  above 
all,  the  scanty  driblets  of  money  that  found  their 
way  by  circuitous  routes  into  the  treasury  of  the 
society — were  signs,  the  meaning  of  which  could  not 
be  mistaken.  Money,  indeed,  was  the  chief  diffi- 
culty. The  moment  sufficient  money  was  forth- 
coming, the  other  difficulties,  O'Connell  felt,  would 
speedily  solve  themselves.  The  question  was  how 
to  raise  it. 

At  a  meeting  on  24th  January,  1824,  one  of  the 
members,  after  pathetically  alluding  to  the  scanty 
attendance  at  their  meetings,  proposed  that  letters 
should  be  written  to  all  the  Roman  Catholic  peers, 
sons  of  peers,  baronets,  etc.,  etc.,  inviting  them  to 
become  members  of  the  Association.  O'Connell 
opposed  the  proposal  for  two  reasons.  First,  be- 
cause it  would  furnish  an  incentive  to  anonymous 
abuse  at  a  time  when  the  Catholics  were  so  pitilessly 
assailed  by  Tory  and  Orange  malignity,  both  in  Eng- 
land and  Ireland,  that  it  behooved  them  in  the  de- 
fence of  their  own  interests  to  be  watchful  and  not 
intentionally  to  supply  their  enemies  with  weapons 
of  offence.  Secondly,  because  he  had  a  scheme  of 
his  own  for  extending  the  influence  of  the  society, 
by  calling  upon  every  Catholic  in  Ireland  to  con- 
tribute a  monthly  sum  from  one  penny  up  to  two 
shillings  to  the  general  fund.  So  that  by  a  general 
effort  of  that  kind  the  people  of  England  should  see 
that  Catholic  millions  felt  a  deep  interest  in  the 
cause,  and  that  it  was  not,  as  was  supposed,  confined 
to  those  styled  "  agitators." 


I 


1824]  The  Catholic  Association.  137 

It  was  some  time  before  he  could  find  an  oppor- 
tunity to  expound  his  plan,  owing  to  the  rule  of  the 
Association,  whereby,  if  after  the  lapse  of  half  an 
hour  from  the  time  of  meeting  less  than  ten  mem- 
bers were  present,  the  meeting  stood  adjourned. 
So  often  did  this  happen  that  it  became  quite  amus- 
ing to  watch  the  cynicism  with  which  the  secretary, 
Purcell  O'Gorman,  regularly  ten  minutes  before  the 
half  hour  had  elapsed  placed  his  watch  on  the  table, 
and,  as  it  marked  half-past  three,  returned  it  to 
his  pocket,  saying,  "  It 's  half-past  three,  gentlemen, 
and  ten  members  are  not  present :  we  must  adjourn." 
The  action  grated  on  O'Connell's  nerves.  At  last, 
on  4th  February,  the  spell  was  broken.  Punctually 
to  the  minute  O'Gorman  placed  his  watch  on  the 
table  ;  there  were  only,  as  usual,  seven  members 
present ;  in  ten  minutes,  unless  fresh  members  ar- 
rived, the  meeting  would  be  adjourned.  One  minute 
more  elapsed  ;  O'Connell  could  stand  it  no  longer 
and,  flinging  away  the  newspaper  he  had  been  read- 
ing, hastily  quitted  the  room.  The  six  remaining 
members  looked  at  each  other  aghast.  Had  it  come 
to  this  at  last?  Had  the  apathy  of  the  Catholics  at 
last  succeeded  in  disgusting  him  into  throwing  up 
their  cause  ?  The  answer  came  directly.  Rushing 
down-stairs,  O'Connell  passed  an  eighth  member  on 
his  way  up.  In  Coyne's  shop  he  found  two  young 
priests  purchasing  books.  It  was  the  work  of  a 
moment  to  overcome  their  scruples,  and  returning 
with  them  to  the  room,  just  as  O'Gorman  was  about 
to  replace  his  watch  in  his  pocket,  he  moved  a  Mr. 
Coppinger    into     the    chair,   and     without    further 


138  Daniel  O'Connell.  [1823- 

preliminary  plunged  in  medias  res.  It  was  the  last 
time  in  the  history  of  the  Association  that  a  meeting 
was  adjourned  from  insufficient  attendance.  There 
was  no  rule  allowing  a  count-out,  and  the  two  young 
priests,  terrified  at  the  position  in  which  they  found 
themselves,  speedily  retired  ;  but  other  members 
arrived,  and  there  was  a  fairly  good  attendance 
before  the  business  of  the  meeting  was  concluded. 

To  a  meeting,  one  of  the  most  important  ever  held 
in  Ireland,  got  together  in  such  fashion,  O'Connell, 
after  referring  to  the  legal  position  in  which  they 
found  themselves  owing  to  the  interpretation  placed 
by  Justice  Downes  on  the  Convention  Act,  pro- 
ceeded to  unfold  his  scheme  for  the  establishment 
of  a  Catholic  Rent.  The  project  he  knew  would  be 
well  abused  and  perhaps  laughed  at  ;  but  in  truth  he 
was  not  the  author  of  it.  The  idea  had,  in  fact,  orig- 
inated with  Lord  Kenmare  in  1785.  "There  are," 
wrote  his  lordship  to  Dr.  Moylan,  "  two  thousand 
five  hundred  Catholic  parishes  in  the  kingdom.  Let 
us  make  a  rent  of  one  pound  sterling  a  year  upon 
each  parish,  and  that,  accumulating  and  forming  a 
permanent  fund,  will  be  a  powerful  ally  in  the  con- 
test for  emancipation."  His  own  plan  was  some- 
what more  comprehensive.  There  were  seven  millions 
of  Catholics  in  Ireland.  Supposing  that  less  than  a 
quarter  of  them  were  to  contribute  one  penny  each 
individual  in  the  month,  there  would  be  no  difficulty 
in  raising  at  least  £,^0,000  a  year.  The  feasibility  of 
the  plan  was  obvious.  He  remembered  that  in  18 12 
he  himself  had  proposed  and  set  on  foot  a  temporary 
subscription,   and    in    three   parishes  alone  he  had 


J 


1824]  The  Catholic  Associalion.  1 39 

collected  ;^79,  which  had  gone  into  the  funds  of  the 
Catholic  Board.  The  collection  would  then  have 
been  continued  under  a  regular  organisation,  had  not 
miserable  disputes  arisen  between  what  was  called 
the  Catholic  aristocracy  and  the  Catholic  democracy 
and  upset  everything.  He  promised  that  no  such 
result  should  follow  the  present  experiment.  He 
himself  would  carefully  superintend  and  work  out 
most  perseveringly  every  detail  of  his  plan,  and 
would  not  abandon  it  but  with  life.  He  was  thor- 
oughly and  entirely  convinced,  not  only  of  its  prac- 
ticability, but  of  its  certain  efficaciousness  for  its 
purposes.  At  the  same  time  it  was  only  natural  that 
people  who  were  called  upon  to  subscribe  their 
money  should  desire  to  have  some  idea  how  that 
money  was  to  be  spent.  Granted  then  that  ;^50,ooo 
were  annually  forthcoming,  he  had  five  distinct  and 
decided  objects  in  view.  His  first  object  was  the 
collection  and  conveying  of  petitions  to  Parliament, 
not  only  on  the  subject  of  Catholic  emancipation 
but  upon  that  of  every  other  grievance  of  whatever 
kind  that  pressed  upon  the  country,  together  with 
the  appointment  of  a  parliamentary  agent  in  Lon- 
don. To  this  end  he  would  set  aside  ;i^5000.  His 
second  object  was  the  promotion  of  a  more  friendly 
feeling  on  the  part  of  the  public  towards  the  Catho- 
lics, by  supporting  the  liberal  press  both  in  London 
and  Dublin.  Less  than  ^15,000  for  this  purpose  he 
thought  would  be  insufficient.  His  third  object  was 
to  provide  legal  protection  for  the  Catholics  against 
Orange  oppression.  This  suggestion,  coming  from 
the  quarter  it  did,  might  cause  him  to  be  sneered  at ; 


140  Daniel  0'Co7itielL  11823- 

but  it  was  really  frightful  to  think  of  the  oppressions 
which  it  was  in  the  power  of  a  magistrate,  tinged  with 
Orange  principles,  to  inflict  upon  the  people.  Allo- 
cating ;^ 1 5,000  for  this  purpose,  there  would  still 
remain  ;^  15,000.  Of  this  he  proposed  to  set  aside 
;^5000  for  the  education  of  the  Catholic  poor ;  ;^50oo 
for  the  education  of  Catholic  priests  for  the  service  of 
America ;  the  remaining  Cyyxi  to  be  held  over  to 
accumulate  and  be  applied  to  the  building  of  chapels, 
taking  farms  in  the  several  parishes  and  erecting  a 
house  upon  each  for  the  Catholic  clergyman. 

The  meeting  listened,  half  credulously,  half 
amusedly,  to  the  exposition  of  hispenny-a-month  plan 
for  liberating  Ireland ;  but  it  agreed  by  a  majority 
of  twenty-one  to  four  to  print  the  report.  The  pub- 
lic, as  he  had  predicted,  laughed  heartily  at  his  new 
project ;  but  it  was  clear,  when  he  arose  to  address 
an  aggregfate  meeting  a  fortnight  later  in  Townshend 
Street  chapel  on  the  desirability  of  petitioning  Parlia- 
ment, that  he  had  at  last,  after  long  years  of  unappreci- 
ated labour,  succeeded  in  touching  the  heart  of  the 
nation.  The  rapturous  cheers  with  which  he  was 
greeted  approved  his  declaration  that  the  scheme 
was  a  feasible  one,  and  were  tokens  that  in  its  adop- 
tion a  new  day  had  dawned  for  him  and  for  Ireland. 
The  long  night  of  apathy  and  despair  had  passed 
away,  the  dawn  was  breaking,  the  hour  of  the  na- 
tion's awakening  had  sounded.  Hitherto,  as  he  told 
his  audience,  the  best  exertions  of  the  Catholics  had 
been  frustrated  owing  to  the  want  of  pecuniary 
means.  A  general  subscription  would  overcome  that 
difficulty.      He  only  asked  for  a  penny  a  month, — 


I 


18241  The  Catholic  Association.  141 

a  farthing  a  week, — and  the  response  of  his  listeners, 
as  with  one  voice  they  shouted,  "  You  shall  have  it," 
was  in  this  instance  no  mere  evanescent  explosion 
of  popular  enthusiasm.  The  harvest  indeed  was 
there,  ripe  unto  reaping  ;  but  the  labourers  at  first 
were  few,  and  the  task  of  organising  the  Rent  taxed 
O'Connell's  powers  to  the  utmost. 

Beginning  in  the  towns,  the  collection  of  the  Rent 
was  at  first  undertaken  by  volunteers,  who  formed 
themselves  into  committees,  divided  the  towns  into 
"  walks,"  and  remitted  their  funds  through  their  sec- 
retaries to  the  central  association  in  Dublin.  Little 
by  little  the  organisation  spread  to  the  neighbouring 
parishes,  and  thence  into  the  remotest  parts  of  the 
country.  As  it  grew,  its  objects  developed.  Com- 
mittee rooms  were  hired,  weekly  meetings  estab- 
lished, and  matters  of  public  importance  discussed  at 
them.  The  result  was  magical.  Instead  of  one  As- 
sociation, exercising  a  limited  influence,  a  hundred 
sprang  into  existence,  following  more  or  less  closely 
on  the  lines  of  the  parent  institution,  each  forming 
and  leading  public  opinion  in  the  district  in  which  it 
was  located,  and  spreading  a  knowledge  of  the  aims 
and  objects  of  the  Association  into  every  quarter  of 
the  island.  Not  only  was  the  collection  of  the  Rent 
thereby  facilitated  and  the  funds  of  the  society  in- 
creased, but  a  means  of  communication  was  estab- 
lished between  the  leaders  of  the  movement  in 
Dublin  and  the  peasantry  scattered  over  the  coun- 
try, which  enabled  the  former  to  control  it  and  to 
secure  instant  obedience  for  their  commands.  A 
spirit  of  inquiry  was  awakened  in  the  masses  of  the 


142  Daniel  O'Connell.  [1823- 

people,  and  a  passion  created  in  them  for  political 
discussion.  They  began  to  read  the  papers  in  which 
their  proceedings  were  recorded  and  their  contribu- 
tions acknowledged,  and  finding  themselves  not  so 
insignificant  as  they  had  hitherto  imagined,  assumed 
a  bolder  and  more  independent  deportment.  Nor 
was  this  all :  each  committee  formed  a  sort  of  tribunal 
for  the  adjustment  of  local  disputes,  for  redressing 
grievances  and  the  protection  of  the  oppressed.  In- 
tolerance and  injustice  trembled  before  it ;  the  vil- 
lage tyrant  hated  and  feared  it ;  the  peasant  appealed 
to  it  and  obeyed  it.  The  clergy,  too,  animated  by  a 
few  of  their  dignitaries,  and  above  all  by  the  exam- 
ple of  the  pious  and  learned  Bishop  of  Kildare  and 
Leighlin,  Dr.  Doyle,  threw  themselves,  after  a  little 
hesitation,  into  the  movement,  thereby  giving  to  it  a 
moral  sanction  of  infinite  value,  and  acquiring  for 
themselves  a  firm  hold  on  the  affection  and  obedi- 
ence of  their  flocks. 

As  the  effects  of  the  Association  became  apparent 
hope  was  rekindled  in  the  breasts  of  the  peasantry. 
They  felt  that  something,  to  use  their  own  words, 
was  being  done  for  them  also.  It  awoke  a  new  life 
in  them.  It  was  their  first  step  out  of  servitude 
into  nationality.  Their  gratitude  to  the  author  of 
it  was  unbounded.  To  O'Connell,  notwithstanding 
his  modest  disclaimer  to  be  the  originator  of  the 
scheme,  they  ascribed,  and  rightly  ascribed,  their  re- 
generation. O'Connell  indeed  was  the  life  and  soul, 
the  creator  and  sustainer  of  the  whole  movement. 
Without  him  —  without  his  enthusiasm,  it  would 
never    have    existed :    without    him  —  without   his 


BISHOP  DOYLE. 

FROM    A   PAINTING   BY    HAVERTY. 


I 


1824]  The  Catholic  Association.  143 

guiding  hand,  it  would  have  run  into  illegal  courses, 
and  have  lost  its  influence.  But  even  O'Connell  did 
not  at  first  perceive  the  full  consequence  of  his  plan. 
So  far  as  annual  revenue  went,  he  was  doomed  to 
disappointment ;  but  the  establishment  of  the  Rent 
did  more  than  he  had  ever  dreamt  of.  It  called  a 
nation  into  existence.  For  himself,  it  was  the  begin- 
ning of  that  extraordinary  popularity  which  was  the 
wonder  and  envy  of  mankind.  Hitherto  he  had 
been  only  one  of  their  leaders  ;  but  the  establish- 
ment of  the  Rent  lifted  him  in  the  imagination  of 
his  countrymen  into  a  unique  position.  Everywhere 
he  went,  on  circuit,  he  met  with  an  ovation ;  willing 
hands  dragged  his  carriage  and  banquets  met  him  at 
every  turn.  His  popularity  gratified  him.  He  felt 
his  power,  and  did  all  that  he  could  to  promote  it. 
But  his  ambition  was  for  his  country,  not  for  himself; 
and  herein  lay  the  secret  of  his  popularity  and 
influence. 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

THE  ATTACK  ON  THE  CATHOLIC  ASSOCIATION. 
1824-1825. 

TH  E  progress  of  the  Association  was  rapid.    Very 
soon  the  narrow  two-roomed   floor  in   Capel 
Street  became  inconveniently   small   for  the 
transaction  of  the  business  devolving  upon  it,  and  in 
October  it  moved  into  more  spacious  premises  in  the 
Corn  Exchange,  on  Ussher's  quay. 

Meanwhile  Government,  which  had  regarded  the 
establishment  of  the  Association  with  languid  inter- 
est, began  to  feel  alarmed  as  it  realised  how  formid- 
able the  movement  was  becoming.  It  was  impossible 
to  watch  the  growth  of  this  imperium  in  imperio  with 
complacency  ;  but  the  difificulty  was,  how  to  meet  it, 
seeing  that  it  violated  no  existing  law.  There  were. 
Peel  wrote  to  Goulburn,  on  6th  November,  several 
alternatives  before  them.  They  might  do  nothing, 
and  let  the  Association  take  its  course,  trusting  to 
the  chance  of  disunion  among  its  members,  or  of 
their  bringing  discredit  upon  themselves  by  the 
folly  of  their  proceedings.  Still  it  was  impossible 
to  deny  that  the  evils  of  forbearance  and  delay  were 

144 


1825]     Attack  on  the  Catholic  Association.     145 

very  great ;  the  friends  of  Government  would  be 
dismayed  and  disheartened,  while  the  Association 
gained  in  firmness  and  consistency.  On  the  other 
hand,  they  might  take  advantage  of  any  violation  of 
the  law  to  strike  a  blow  at  the  Association,  or  go  to 
Parliament  and  ask  for  a  new  law  to  suppress  it 
entirely.  Such  a  special  law  would  of  course  cause 
a  great  outcry,  but  the  appeal  to  the  legislature 
would  at  least  have  the  advantage  of  affording  a  full 
exposition  of  the  danger  that  confronted  them. 
The  Duke  of  Wellington  took  an  even  more  serious 
view  of  the  situation,  and  thought  that  everything 
portended  a  civil  war  sooner  or  later.  Curiously 
enough,  Goulburn,  who  as  being  on  the  spot  might 
have  been  expected  to  be  more  seriously  alarmed, 
quietly  ridiculed  Wellington's  idea  of  an  insur- 
rection.    "Those,"  he  wrote  on  14th  December, 

*'  who  look  to  immediate  and  combined  insurrection  ap- 
pear to  me  to  mistake  the  nature  of  the  danger.  I  can- 
not, as  yet,  trace  the  existence  of  any  such  project.  I 
do  not  believe  that  it  exists.  The  people  have  no  mili- 
tary organisation,  no  adequate  supply  of  arms,  no  pe- 
cuniary resources,  no  regular  leaders.  The  immediate 
danger  that  I  contemplate  is  a  sudden  ebullition  of  fa- 
natical fury  in  particular  places,  originating  not  in  any 
settled  or  premeditated  plan,  but  in  some  casual  circum- 
stances operating  upon  the  mind  of  a  people  easily  ex- 
cited at  all  times  and  now  in  a  state  of  unusual  and 
extreme  excitation." 

While  the  anti-Catholic  members  of  the  adminis- 
tration were  thus  deliberating,  doubtful  as  to  the 
advisability  of  taking  any  immediate  steps,  the  Lord 


146  Daniel  O'Connell.  [1824- 

Lieutenant,  who  prided  himself  on  his  friendship  to 
the  Catholics,  precipitated  matters  by  instituting 
proceedings  against  O'Connell  for  seditious  lan- 
guage. The  words  complained  of  were  contained  in 
a  speech  delivered  at  the  Association  on  i6th  De- 
cember.    "  Nations,"  he  was  reported  to  have  said, 

"  had  been  driven  mad  by  oppression.  He  hoped  that 
Ireland  would  never  be  driven  to  the  system  pursued  by 
the  Greeks.  He  trusted  in  God  they  would  never  be  so 
driven.  He  hoped  Ireland  would  be  restored  to  her 
rights  ;  but  if  ever  that  day  should  arrive — if  she  were 
driven  mad  by  persecution,  he  hoped  that  a  new  Bolivar 
might  be  found — that  the  spirit  of  the  Greeks  and  that 
of  the  South  Americans  might  animate  the  people  of 
Ireland." 

Such  were  the  words  of  the  speech  as  reported  in 
Saunders's  News-Letter.  But  that  the  Irish  govern- 
ment should  have  selected  especially  these  upon 
which  to  base  a  prosecution,  just  at  the  moment 
when  England  had  determined  formally  to  recognise 
the  independence  of  the  Spanish-American  republics, 
was  matter  for  general  wonder.  "  The  King,"  wrote 
Peel  to  Lord  Liverpool,  "  says  he  sees  much  incon- 
sistency in  prosecuting  O'Connell  and  afterwards 
recognising  Bolivar."  The  remark,  coming  from  the 
quarter  it  did,  might  be  regarded  as  a  hit  at  Canning 
rather  than  as  expressive  of  any  sympathy  for  O'Con- 
nell. But  the  fact  that  in  their  anxiety  to  strike  a 
blow  at  the  Association  the  advisers  of  his  Excel- 
lency could  find  nothing  in  any  of  O'Connell's  nu- 
merous speeches  more  savouring  of  encouragement 


1825]     Attack  on  the  Catholic  Association.     147 

to  rebellion  than  this  passing  reference  to  Bolivar, 
speaks  volumes  for  the  pacific  tendency  of  his  agita- 
tion. That  no  one  but  the  blindest  partisan  could 
ever  have  dreamt  of  imputing  to  him  anything  like 
an  appeal  to  arms  may  now  be  readily  admitted. 
But  the  phenomenon  of  a  peaceful  agitation,  of  an 
agitation  resting  on  constitutional  grounds  and  ap- 
pealing for  its  support  to  law-abiding  citizens,  was  at 
the  time  so  novel  that  no  one,  and  least  of  all  Gov- 
ernment, could  believe  in  its  sincerity.  The  situation, 
too,  was  by  no  means  so  simple  as  at  first  sight  it 
might  appear.  O'Connell  had  referred  to  Bolivar: 
at  the  same  moment  a  rabid  Orangeman,  Sir  Har- 
court  Lees  by  name,  had  published  what  the  Chief 
Secretary,  without  exaggeration,  described  as  a 
"most  furious  letter"  to  the  Protestants  of  Ulster, 
calling  upon  them  to  arm  against  the  Catholics,  and 
announcing  his  intention  of  placing  himself  at  their 
head  "  because  the  Government  was  so  weak  as  to 
despise  the  danger  of  the  Protestants  and  to  decline 
supplying  them  with  arms."  This  letter  the  law 
officers  of  the  Crown  pronounced  a  fit  subject  for 
prosecution. 

The  fact  was,  that  men's  minds,  especially  in  the 
North  where  the  insane  ravings  of  one  Pastorini,  pre- 
dicting the  extirpation  of  all  heretics  in  Ireland  in 
1825,  had  caughtfirm  hold  on  the  popular  imagination, 
were  in  a  state  of  intense  excitement.  The  Catho- 
lic hierarchy  had  condemned  Pastorini's  prophecies  ; 
O'Connell  had  lifted  his  voice  in  behalf  of  law  and 
order;  the  Association  had  issued  a  strong  appeal  to 
the  peasantry  to  refrain  from  secret  societies  and 


148  Daniel  O'Connell.  [1824- 

open  violence.  Could  Government  have  allied  itself 
with  the  Association,  it  might  have  been  better  for 
Ireland.  But  under  the  circumstances  this  was  im- 
possible. In  one  sense  the  Association  was  merely 
the  Catholic  Board  revived.  It  was  even  more  for- 
midable than  ever  the  Board  had  been.  It  evaded 
the  Convention  Act,  and  no  government  with  any 
pretentions  to  be  a  government  could  afford  to  see 
its  powers  and  functions  usurped  by  a  quasi-illegal 
society.  True,  the  Association  was  on  the  side  of 
law  and  order  ;  its  influence,  felt  throughout  the 
length  and  breadth  of  the  land,  was  a  good  one.  But 
its  existence /^r  J^  was  objectionable;  it  was  an  im- 
periunt  in  imperio ;  it  usurped  the  office  and  char- 
acter of  a  government ;  it  inflamed  the  Protestants, 
who  saw  in  it  a  formidable  conspiracy  against  the 
liberties  of  the  minority.  That  this  was  not  its  ob- 
ject, that  it  was  essentially  a  peaceful  association  for 
the  defence  of  the  defenceless,  was  not  to  be  believed. 
Such  then  was  the  practical  issue  of  the  Marquis 
of  Wellesley's  attempt  to  "  administer  the  laws." 
Instead  of  conciliating  Orangemen  and  Catholics  he 
had  succeeded  only  in  setting  them  over  against  each 
other  in  two  hostile  camps.  His  equestrian  feat  of 
trying  to  ride  two  horses,  pulling  in  opposite  direc- 
tions, had  ended  in  a  fall  to  the  ground.  The  at- 
tempt to  secure  the  conviction  of  Sir  Harcourt 
Lees  failed  :  the  prosecution  of  O'Connell  proved  a 
farce.  The  words  imputed  to  him  could  not  be 
proved  against  him.  The  one  witness  on  whose 
evidence  the  Government  rested  —  the  reporter  of 
Saunders  s    News-Letter  —  ignominiously   swore   he 


1825]    Attack  on  the  Catholic  Association.     149 

had  been  asleep  when  the  words  were  uttered,  and 
on  New  Year's  Day,  1825,  the  grand  jury  threw  out 
the  bills  against  him. 

O'Connell's  acquittal  naturally  added  to  his  popul- 
arity and  to  the  strength  of  the  Association.  The 
cheers  that  greeted  him,  on  his  next  appearance, 
plainly  told  him  so.  But  the  result  of  the  prosecu- 
tion, as  he  reminded  his  audience,  was  not  merely  a 
personal  triumph.  It  was  a  triumph  for  every  man 
in  the  country  that  valued  the  existence  of  the 
British  Constitution  and  estimated  his  privileges  as 
a  freeman.  For  that  constitution,  for  those  privi- 
leges, he  was  ready  to  shed  his  blood  to  the  last  drop. 
Had  he  not  given  seven  hostages  to  the  State  as  se- 
curity for  his  fidelity  ?  Had  he  not  a  profession  the 
most  abundant  in  its  return  for  his  labours?  Had 
he  not,  independent  of  that  profession,  a  property 
suflficient  to  support  him  in  a  style  of  independence 
suitable  to  his  station  as  the  descendant  of  one  of  the 
most  ancient  families  of  the  land  ?  Would  he  not 
then  be  the  most  doting  driveller  in  existence  to 
imagine  that  at  his  age,  and  under  his  circumstances, 
he  could  be  a  gainer,  or  that  his  country  would  be 
benefited,  by  an  armed  organisation  of  barefooted, 
turbulent,  undisciplined  peasantry,  against  the  mar- 
shalled troops  of  the  Empire?  No,  he  would  rather 
submit  to  the  consequences  of  their  present  degra- 
dation than  that  a  single  tear  should  make  any  por- 
tion of  the  cup  of  doubtful  happiness  to  be  obtained 
by  a  national  commotion.  But  the  Association,  it 
was  said,  was  not  to  be  allowed  to  enjoy  its  triumph. 
Even  while  he  spoke,  a  rumour  had  reached  him  of 


150  Daniel  O^  Connell.  11824- 

the  intention  of  the  Government  to  proceed  against 
it  directly.  The  Association,  he  knew,  might  be 
suppressed,  but  Government  could  hardly  prohibit 
their  assembling  to  dine  together.  The  Association 
was  the  creature  of  the  penal  laws ;  and  as  long  as 
Catholic  disabilities  existed,  so  long  must  the  Catho- 
lics possess  some  organ  through  which  to  convey 
their  complaints,  to  proclaim  their  grievances,  and  to 
demand  their  redress. 

The  rumour  that  Government  intended  to  suppress 
the  Association  proved  well  founded.  The  King's 
speech,  at  the  opening  of  Parliament  on  3rd  February, 
expressed  a  regret  that,  while  the  condition  of  the 
country  generally  showed  signs  of  improvement,  and 
the  outrages,  for  the  suppression  of  which  extra- 
ordinary powers  had  been  required,  had  ceased,  asso- 
ciations existed  in  Ireland  irreconcilable  with  the 
spirit  of  the  constitution,  and  calculated,  by  exciting 
alarm  and  by  exasperating  animosity,  to  endanger 
the  peace  of  society  and  retard  the  course  of  national 
improvement.  It  was  remarked  that  it  was  not  asso- 
ciation, but  associations  in  the  plural,  that  was  spoken 
of. 

"  Let  not  that  little  s  deceive  any  person,"  said 
Brougham.  "  I  know  the  reflection  that  passed  through 
the  mind  of  the  writer.  .  .  .  However  it  may  be  in- 
tended to  hold  the  balance  even  between  the  Catholic 
and  Orange  associations,  depend  upon  it,  it  will  only  be 
a  nominal  equality.  The  Catholic  Association  will  be 
strongly  put  down  with  one  hand,  while  the  Orange  Asso- 
ciation will  only  receive  a  gentle  tap  with  the  other." 

The  policy  foreshadowed  in  the  King's  speech  was 


1 


1825]     Attack  on  the  Catholic  Association.     151 

confirmed  a  week  later  by  the  introduction  by  Goul- 
burn  of  a  Bill  for  the  suppression  of  the  Catholic  As- 
sociation and  the  Orange  Lodges.  It  was  supported 
by  Canning  and  Plunket,  though,  as  Brougham  pre- 
dicted, it  was  chiefly  directed  against  the  former, 
rendering  illegal  every  society  constituted  "  for  the 
purpose  of  procuring  the  redress  of  grievances  in 
Church  or  State,"  "which  shall  continue  their  meet- 
ings for  a  longer  time  than  fourteen  days  from  their 
first  meeting,"  or  "  which  shall  authorise  any  body  or 
bodies  to  levy  or  receive  any  money  or  contributions 
from  his  Majesty's  subjects,"  or  "  which  shall  admin- 
ister any  oaths  whatever  at  times  and  places  not  re- 
quired by  law  to  the  exclusion  of  persons  of  any 
form  of  religious  faith."  At  the  same  time  special 
care  was  taken  to  exclude  from  its  provisions  all 
societies  formed  for  religious  worship,  or  acting 
"  merely  for  purposes  of  public  or  private  charity, 
science,  agriculture,  manufactures,  or  commerce." 
The  importance  of  this  saving  clause  did  not  escape 
the  notice  of  O'Connell. 

At  the  first  announcement  of  Goulburn's  Bill,  the 
Association  took  instant  measures  to  be  heard  at  the 
Bar  of  the  House  of  Commons  in  their  defence.  On 
lOth  February  a  deputation,  consisting  of  O'Connell, 
Sir  Thomas  Esmonde,  Sheil,  and  other  influential 
persons,  was  appointed  to  proceed  immediately  to 
London,  for  the  purpose  of  conferring  with  their 
friends  in  Parliament  and  supplying  them  with  such 
information  as  might  be  useful  during  the  impending 
struggle.  It  was  with  extreme  reluctance  that  O'Con- 
nell consented  to  form  one  of  the  deputation. 


152 


Daniel  O^  ConnelL 


[1824- 


"  It  is,"  he  wrote  to  his  wife,  "  a  sacrifice — certainly  a 
great  sacrifice — and  you  must  not  be  angry  if  I  meet 
nothing  but  ingratitude  in  return.  No  man  should  ever 
expect  gratitude  from  the  public.  I  wish  to  God  I 
could  make  my  motives  so  pure  and  disinterested  as  to 
care  little  for  gratitude  or  applause." 

Travelling  as  rapidly  as  possible,  the  deputation  at- 
tracted considerable  attention  in  passing  through  the 
principal  towns  on  their  route,  especially  O'Connell, 
who  in  his  large  cloak  —  a  survival  to  all  appearance 
of  the  ancient  Irish  mantle —  formed  a  conspicuous 
object  on  the  box  of  the  landau.  At  Wolverhampton 
they  turned  aside  for  a  moment  to  pay  their  respects 
to  Dr.  Milner,  whose  uncompromising  opposition  in 
earlier  days  to  the  veto  had  won  O'Connell's  grati- 
tude. With  some  difficulty  they  found  the  venerable 
prelate  sitting  before  his  kitchen  fire,  sipping  the 
cup  of  chocolate  that  formed  his  simple  breakfast. 
But  age  had  obscured  his  recollection,  and  he  scarcely 
remembered  O'Connell's  name.  A  reference  to  his 
old  feud  with  Charles  Butler  brought  a  momentary 
flash  into  his  lustre-dimmed  eyes ;  but  the  visit  was 
a  melancholy  one,  and  after  a  little  desultory  con- 
versation the  deputation  took  their  departure. 
Reaching  London  about  midday  on  i8th  February, 
O'Connell  took  up  his  quarters  at  Cooke's  Hotel,  in 
Albemarle  Street,  and  with  his  companions  at  once 
proceeded  to  call  on  Sir  Francis  Burdett,  the  new 
manager  of  the  Catholic  business,  "  an  elegant 
gentleman,  with  an  English  coldness  about  him,"  as 
O'Connell  described  him  to  his  wife ;  but  "  improving 
on    acquaintance."     After   some   conversation  they 


1825]    Attack  on  the  Catholic  Association.     153 

repaired  in  his  company  to  the  House  of  Commons, 
and  being  provided  with  seats  under  the  gallery, 
O'Connell  saw  the  Speaker  measure  him  with  his 
glass.  Several  members  came  up  to  shake  hands 
with  him ;  but  his  first  impression  of  the  "  Honour- 
able House  "  was  not  very  favourable.  With  the 
exception  of  Peel  none  of  those  opposed  to  Catholic 
emancipation  struck  him  as  able  speakers,  and  among 
their  friends  there  was  a  want  of  zeal  that  was 
depressing.  Still  he  was  on  the  whole  sanguine  that 
some  good  would  come  out  of  their  visit  ;  and  his 
opinion  gathered  strength  as  time  went  on. 

Despite  the  advocacy  of  Brougham,  Mackintosh, 
and  Burdett,  the  House  of  Commons  refused  to  hear 
counsel  at  the  Bar  on  behalf  of  the  Catholic  Associa- 
tion, and  on  25th  February  the  Bill  for  the  suppres- 
sion of  illegal  societies  in  Ireland,  or,  as  O'Connell 
with  more  force  than  propriety  dubbed  it,  the  "  Al- 
gerine  Act,"  passed  its  third  reading,  becoming  law 
within  a  month  after  it  had  been  introduced.  But  the 
unanimity  with  which  it  had  passed  through  Par- 
liament did  not  prevent  those  who,  while  they 
deprecated  the  Association  itself,  nevertheless  sympa- 
thised with  its  aims,  from  giving  expression  to  their 
opinion  that  the  fane  of  the  constitution  was  dis- 
honoured so  long  as  its  gates  were  closed  against 
millions  of  their  fellow-subjects.  In  fact,  instead  of 
retarding,  the  "  Algerine  Act  "  rather  stimulated, 
the  cause  of  Emancipation.  Urged  by  O'Connell, 
Burdett  at  once  invited  the  House  of  Commons  to 
take  into  its  consideration  the  Catholic  claims,  and 
three  days  after  the  third  reading  of  the  Suppression 


154  Daniel  O'Connell.  [1824- 

Bill  the  House,  by  a  majority  of  thirteen,  granted 
leave  to  introduce  a  Catholic  Relief  Bill.  The  re- 
sult was  gratifying.  Provided  emancipation  were 
conceded,  Parliament  was  welcome  to  suppress  the 
Association.  Nor  was  this  the  only  benefit  that 
followed  from  it. 

During  the  debate  on  the  Suppression  Bill,  select 
committees  of  both  Houses  had  been  appointed  to 
consider  the  general  condition  of  Ireland.  On  25th 
February  O'Connell  was  invited  to  give  evidence 
before  the  Committee  of  the  House  of  Commons. 
His  examination,  conducted  chiefly  by  Sir  Henry 
Parnell  and  Spring  Rice,  touched  the  increase  and 
state  of  the  peasantry  and  the  conditions  of  land 
tenure  in  Ireland.  Several  pertinent  questions  were 
put  to  him  by  Lords  Milton  and  Althorp,  and  during 
the  greater  part  of  the  time  Peel  was  in  the  room. 
O'Connell  was  gratified  at  the  reception  accorded  him, 
and  by  the  modesty  of  his  demeanour,  the  clearness 
and  moderation  of  his  replies,  afforded  general  satis- 
faction. The  day  following  he  addressed  a  meeting 
of  Catholics  in  the  Freemasons'  Tavern,  and  spoke  for 
three  hours  to  an  audience  "  as  cheering  and  en- 
thusiastic as  ever  a  Dublin  aggregate  could  be." 
The  same  evening  he  dined  with  the  deputation  at 
Lord  Stourton's,  occupying  the  place  of  honour,  be- 
tween his  host  and  the  Duke  of  Norfolk,  and  being 
lionised  by  everybody.  On  Sunday,  the  27th,  the 
deputation  dined  at  Brougham's,  O'Connell  sitting 
between  the  Dukes  of  Devonshire  and  Leinster,  and 
opposite  the  Duke  of  Sussex,  who  impressed  him 
unfavourably.     On  3rd  March  he  presided  at  a  large 


1825]    Attack  on  the  Catholic  Association.     155 

charity  dinner,  when  he  was  nearly  crushed  to  death 
by  ladies  anxious  to  shake  hands  with  him.  The 
following  day  he  was  again  examined  before  the 
Committee  of  the  House  of  Commons  on  every  sub- 
ject relating  to  the  Catholics  of  Ireland — the  people, 
Church,  friars,  priests,  Jesuits,  etc.,  and  had  the 
satisfaction  of  hearing  from  Colonel  Dawson,  Peel's 
brother-in-law  and  member  of  Parliament  for  Derry, 
that  he  had  removed  many  of  his  prejudices.  A  day 
or  two  afterwards  he  went  through  the  same  ordeal 
before  the  Lords'  Committee.  His  examination  lasted 
four  hours,  and  was  confined  entirely  to  the  state  of 
the  administration  of  justice,  from  the  highest  to  the 
lowest  jurisdiction,  police  included.  His  deportment 
struck  Lord  Colchester,  who  when  Speaker  of  the 
House  of  Commons  had  moved  the  rejection  of  the 
Relief  Bill  of  1814,  as  "affectedly  respectful  and 
gentle,  except  in  a  few  answers,  where  he  displayed  a 
fierceness  of  tone  and  aspect."  Perhaps  O'Connell's 
opinion  coincided  with  that  of  Dr.  Doyle,  who  after 
his  examination  before  their  lordships  remarked : 
"  Pshaw  !  such  silly  questions  as  they  put !  I  think 
in  all  my  life  I  never  encountered  such  a  parcel  of 
old  fools." 

But  after  the  success  of  Burdett's  motion,  his  time 
was  chiefly  occupied  in  assisting  to  draft  a  Catholic 
Relief  Bill.  On  7th  March,  in  a  letter  to  the  chair- 
man of  the  moribund  Catholic  Association,  he 
sketched  the  Bill  in  outline,  intimating,  without 
signifying  any  disapproval,  that  it  was  intended  to 
accompany  it  with  two  subsidiary  measures,  the  one 
raising  the  electoral   franchise  in   the  county  from 


156  Dafiiel  0'Co?inell.  [1824- 

forty  shillings  to  ;^io,  the  other  making  provision 
for  a  State  endowment  of  the  Catholic  clergy.  The 
letter,  or  at  any  rate  the  gist  of  it,  found  its  way  into 
the  papers,  and  caused  much  mischief.  To  say  the 
least,  it  was  precipitate  and  ill-advised.  But  in  fact 
O'Connell,  in  making  the  communication,  was  wholly 
unaware  that  he  was  walking  on  brittle  ice.  So  far 
as  raising  the  electoral  franchise  was  concerned,  he 
was  in  entire  agreement  with  the  proposal,  and  in  the 
face  of  his  evidence  before  the  House  of  Commons' 
Committee,  it  is  ridiculous  to  urge  that  he  merely 
acquiesced  in  it  as  the  necessary  price  of  emancipa- 
tion. On  the  contrary,  he  was  as  anxious  as  every 
sensible  man  in  the  community  to  have  the  forty- 
shilling  freeholders  abolished.  For,  as  the  absolute 
slaves  of  the  large  landed  proprietors,  they  had 
hitherto  proved  nothing  but  a  drag  on  the  cause  of 
progress,  swamping  by  their  venal  votes  the  preten- 
sions of  every  independent  candidate.  That  these 
despised  forty-shilling  freeholders  would  at  no  very 
distant  date,  in  the  enthusiasm  of  the  national 
struggle,  throw  off  their  yoke  and  exercise  their 
privileges  against  their  masters,  was  what  no  one 
could  have  imagined. 

For  the  other  matter — the  State  endowment  of  the 
Catholic  clergy — it  was  a  matter  which,  in  O'Connell's 
opinion,  concerned  them  alone.  For  himself,  granted 
that  emancipation  was  conceded,  he  could  see  no 
harm  in  a  proposal  which  would  merely  put  them 
on  a  level  with  their  brethren  of  the  Established 
Church.  "  The  Bishops,"  he  wrote  on  14th  March, 
"  are  here,  and  to  them  are  referred  all  questions  as 


t825]    Attack  on  the  Catholic  Association.     157 

to  the  acceptance  of  a  provision  and  the  details  of 
such  provision  if  accepted,  which,  without  Emancipa- 
tion, could  not  possibly  be."  Here,  again,  he  did  not 
know  that  he  was  unconsciously  misinterpreting  the 
view  of  the  Irish  hierarchy.  Two  days  after  he  had 
written  the  above.  Bishop  Doyle  was  examined  by 
the  Committee  of  the  House  of  Commons. 

"  Yesterday,"  notes  Lord  Colchester  in  his  Diary  under 
date  17th  March,  "  Dr.  Doyle  was  examined  by  the 
Committee  of  the  House  of  Commons  on  Ireland.  He 
positively  objected  to  any  interference  of  a  Protestant 
sovereign  in  the  nomination  or  recommendation  or  con- 
trol in  choice  of  Roman  Catholic  clergy  as  prelates  or 
parish  priests  ;  unwilling  to  receive  any  State  provision; 
rejecting  it  absolutely  unless  equality  of  civil  rights  were 
given  to  the  Roman  Catholic  laity;  and  even  then  would 
accept  such  provision  only  as  permanently  annexed  to 
each  benefice  or  dignity." 

Now  it  must  be  confessed  that  the  natural  inter- 
pretation to  be  placed  on  this  paragraph  is  precisely 
what  O'Connell  placed  on  it,  viz.,  that,  if  emancipa- 
tion, i.  e.,  equality  of  civil  rights  for  the  Catholic 
laity,  was  conceded,  the  Catholic  clergy  would  accept 
of  a  State  provision.  But  this,  it  was  soon  to  appear, 
was  not  the  meaning  attached  by  Bishop  Doyle  to 
his  words.  The  misunderstanding  had  the  disastrous 
effect  of  causing  a  quarrel  between  him  and  O'Con- 
nell ;  but  while  admitting  that  the  latter  possibly 
misinterpreted  the  Bishop's  meaning,  it  must  be  al- 
lowed that  the  misinterpretation  was  a  very  natural 
one. 


158  Daniel  O'  Connell.  [1824- 

Believing,  therefore,  that  the  cause  was  progress- 
ing favourably  and  rapidly,  it  was  with  no  little  sur- 
prise and  indignation  that  O'Connell,  on  opening  his 
paper  one  morning,  came  across  a  "  furious  tirade  " 
against  him,  charging  him,  amongst  other  things, 
with  "surrendering  his  former  principles,"  and  "  sell- 
ing the  people  for  a  silk  gown."  The  author  of  the 
letter,  John  Lawless,  or,  as  his  admirers  called  him, 
"  honest  Jack  Lawless,"  figured  as  the  Cobbett  of 
Ireland.  Though  not  one  of  the  deputation,  he  had 
thought  it  his  duty  to  accompany  it  to  London  in 
order  to  superintend  its  proceedings  and  to  prevent 
any  lapse  on  its  part  from  good  old  Radical  doctrines. 
His  vigilance  had  not  been  unrewarded.  He  had 
seen,  or  imagined  he  had  seen,  with  sorrow  how  the 
blandishments  of  the  aristocracy  had  destroyed  the 
moral  backbone  of  the  deputation,  how  "  the  Circean 
cup  of  their  hospitality  "  had  robbed  O'Connell  of 
his  senses,  and  how  in  his  delirium  he  had  sacrificed 
the  forty-shilling  freeholders  in  the  hope  of  personal 
advancement.  Well  for  Ireland  was  it,  in  his  opin- 
ion, that  he,  her  incorruptible  advocate,  was  at  hand 
to  raise  the  alarm.  And  there  was  a  grain  of  truth 
in  his  strictures.  O'Connell  had  indeed  sacrificed 
the  forty-shilling  freeholders ;  but  the  imputation  of 
having  acted  from  personal  motives  was  as  ridiculous 
as  it  was  indecent.  Fearing,  however,  that  the  letter 
would  cause  "  extreme  mischief "  in  England,  and 
"  raise  a  flame  in  Ireland,"  O'Connell  at  once  penned 
a  reply  to  it,  and  dismissed  the  subject  from  his  mind. 

Early  in  April,  between  the  first  and  second  read- 
ings of  the  Bill,  he  paid  a  visit  to  Ireland,  and  on 


1825]     Attack  on  the  Catholic  Association.     159 

14th  April  addressed  a  large  aggregate  meeting  in 
Dublin.  Nothing  on  that  occasion  was  said  about 
the  "  Wings,"  as  the  two  supplementary  bills  for  the 
endowment  of  the  clergy  and  the  disfranchisement  of 
the  forty-shilling  freeholders  were  called,  and  on  the 
return  of  the  deputation  to  London  it  was  agreed 
to  leave  them  to  the  discretion  of  Government,  in 
the  expectation  that  by  doing  so  the  main  measure 
would  pass.  On  21st  April  the  Bill  passed  by  268 
to  241  and  was  read  for  a  third  time  without  a  divis- 
ion on  loth  May.  The  hopes  of  the  Emancipation- 
ists beat  high,  and  it  was  supposed  that  the  Lords 
must  yield.  But  their  hopes  were  doomed  to  dis- 
appointment. On  1 8th  May  the  House  of  Lords, 
rallying  to  the  "  No  Popery  "  speech  of  the  Duke  of 
York,  rejected  the  Bill  on  its  second  reading  by  178 
to  130.  O'Connell,  who  had  been  led  to  believe  that 
it  was  to  have  been  regarded  as  a  Government  meas- 
ure, was  indignant  at  the  perfidy  with  which  he  had 
been  treated  by  Lord  Liverpool,  and  publicly  abused 
him  as  "a  half-honest  man,"  "a  driveller  of  Dr. 
Duigenan's  school,  who  had  changed  his  tone  in 
consequence  of  the  Duke  of  York's  speech."  At  the 
same  time  he  announced  his  intention  of  reviving 
the  Catholic  Association,  promising  for  himself  that 
he  would  always  be  an  agitator. 

On  the  first  of  June  he  landed  at  Howth.  The 
news  of  his  defeat  had  preceded  him.  Lawless  had 
stirred  up  a  spirit  of  opposition  to  his  leadership  ; 
but  neither  had  materially  affected  his  popularity. 
An  immense  crowd  was  awaiting  his  arrival  on  the 
quay,  and  as  he  stepped  ashore  cheer  after  cheer 


i6o  Daniel  O'Connell.  [1824- 

rent  the  air,  hats  were  waved,  and  handkerchiefs  flut- 
tered in  the  breeze.  All  the  way  to  Dublin  the  road 
was  lined  with  men,  women,  and  children  cheering 
him  as  he  drove  homewards  through  their  midst. 
At  Annesley  Bridge  the  enthusiasm  redoubled  itself; 
the  horses  were  taken  from  his  carriage,  and  he  was 
dragged  victoriously  through  the  streets  to  his  house 
in  Merrion  Square.  Here  a  fresh  ovation  awaited 
him,  and  in  response  to  cries  for  a  speech  he  stepped 
on  the  balcony  to  address  a  few  heartfelt  words  of 
thanks  to  them.  A  week  later  he  addressed  an  ag- 
gregate meeting  of  Catholics  in  Anne  Street  chapel, 
"the  most  numerous  and  most  enthusiastic,"  he 
thought,  that  had  ever  assembled  in  Dublin.  As  he 
stepped  on  to  the  platform,  dressed  in  the  uniform 
of  the  Association,  in  blue  frock  coat,  with  a  gilt 
button  on  the  shoulder,  yellow  vest,  and  white  trou- 
sers, the  entire  audience  started  to  its  feet  and  cheered 
him  for  several  minutes.  Hardly  had  the  cheers 
subsided  when  Lawless  started  up  to  put  a  resolution 
expressing  disapproval  of  the  conduct  of  the  deput- 
ation in  London.  The  indignation  of  the  meeting 
was  intense,  and  it  required  all  O'Connell's  influence 
to  procure  a  hearing  for  him.  But,  recognising  the  fu- 
tility of  his  attempt.  Lawless  wisely  withdrew  his 
motion,  with  the  sly  remark  that  he  was  glad  to  see 
O'Connell  had  been  reconverted  to  his  old  views  on 
the  subject  of  the  forty-shilling  freeholders  and  the 
endowment  of  the  Catholic  clergy.  Disdaining  to 
notice  the  innuendo  implied  in  his  remark,  O'Connell 
at  once  plunged  into  the  business  for  which  the 
meeting  had  been  summoned,  viz.,  the  appointment 


1825]    Attack  on  the  Catholic  Association.      i6i 

of  a  committee  to  consider  the  possibility  of  starting 
a  new  Association  to  carry  on  the  work  of  the  old 
one  without  infringing  the  provisions  of  the  Sup- 
pression Act.  A  committee  of  twenty-one  was  ac- 
cordingly appointed,  and  after  sitting  for  fifteen 
days,  waiting,  in  fact,  till  the  prorogation  of  Parlia- 
ment prevented  the  possibility  of  any  immediate 
fresh  legislation  against  them,  it  reported  to  another 
aggregate  meeting  on  13th  July. 

In  submitting  the  report,  O'Connell  announced 
that  the  committee,  while  resolved  "  to  obey  a  statute 
they  could  not  respect,"  "  were  convinced  that  a 
new  Association  might  be  formed  which  would  con- 
solidate the  constitutional  resources  of  the  Catholic 
body,  without  in  any  way  infringing  the  Act  recently 
passed."  To  accomplish  this  it  was  necessary  to 
consider  what  the  new  law  allowed,  and  what  it  did 
not  allow.  Taking  the  latter  first :  it  was  illegal  for 
the  new  Association  to  concern  itself  with  the  prepa- 
ration and  management  of  petitions  for  the  repeal  of 
the  penal  laws,  or  for  any  other  purposes.  That 
could  only  be  done  by  an  aggregate  meeting  ;  but  as 
the  law  limited  the  duration  of  such  meetings  to 
fourteen  days — a  period  too  short  in  which  to  collect 
the  general  opinion  of  the  Catholic  body — it  would 
henceforth  be  necessary  that  aggregate  meetings 
should  be  held  simultaneously  in  every  county  in 
Ireland.  As  for  the  new  Catholic  Association,  it  was 
to  be  formed  merely  for  the  purposes  of  public  or 
private  charity  and  such  other  purposes  as  were  not 
prohibited  by  the  statute  VI.  Geo.  IV.,  cap.  4.  Its  ob- 
jects would  be  the  promotion  of  public  peace  and 


1 62  Daniel  0'Co7inell.  [1824- 

concord  ;  the  encouragement  of  an  enlightened  and 
religious  system  of  education  founded  on  the  basis 
of  Christian  charity  and  perfect  fair  dealing  ;  the 
taking  of  a  religious  census  ;  the  rendering  of  aid  in 
the  erection  of  places  of  Catholic  worship  ;  the  pro- 
motion of  improvements  in  agriculture  and  manu- 
factures ;  and  the  diffusion  of  information  calculated 
to  advance  the  cause  of  religious  toleration  by  sup- 
port given  to  a  liberal  press. 

It  was  soon  to  appear  that  under  these  specious 
pretexts  not  a  single  portion  of  the  entire  social 
fabric  existed  which  it  was  not  in  the  power  of  the 
Association  legally  to  discuss.  For  how  was  public 
peace  and  concord  to  be  promoted  so  long  as  the 
Orange  system  lasted  ?  How  was  an  enlightened 
system  of  education  to  be  fostered  so  long  as  the 
proselytising  methods  of  the  Kildare  Street  schools 
were  permitted  ?  How  were  improvements  to  be 
made  in  agriculture  so  long  as  arbitrary  ejectments, 
tithe-proctors,  church-rates,  and  grand-jury  present- 
ments existed  ?  How  was  religious  toleration  to  be 
promoted  so  long  as  a  Tory  press,  secretly  supported 
by  Government,  was  allowed  to  malign  the  Catholics 
and  misinterpret  their  objects  unimpeded  ?  Even  in 
what  appeared  its  greatest  grievance — the  removal 
of  the  management  of  the  Catholic  petition  out  of 
its  control — it  soon  appeared  that  instead  of  destroy- 
ing the  usefulness  of  the  Association  the  "  Algerine 
Act  "  had  only  increased  its  efficiency.  No  oaths 
were  to  be  tendered  as  a  condition  of  membership, 
and  no  one  was  to  be  excluded  on  the  ground  of 
religion.     Every  person  who  paid  ^\  before  a  certain 


i 


1825]    Attack  on  the  Catholic  Association.     163 

day  was  ipso  facto  a  member  of  the  Association  : 
after  that  day  each  person  paying  £\  and  procuring 
one  member  to  propose  and  another  to  second  him 
was  likewise  a  member.  The  new  Association  took 
over  the  ;^  14,000  which  the  old  one  had  in  hand  when 
it  was  dissolved.  But  as  it  was  no  longer  possible  to 
connect  the  Rent — the  mainspring  of  the  agitation — 
with  the  Association,  the  management  of  it  was,  at 
O'Connell's  suggestion,  entrusted  to  Lord  Killeen. 


MEDAL  STRUCK    FOR   O'CONNELL   BY    MONOP. 

FROM   THE   ORIGINAL   IN    THE    BRITISH    MUSEUM. 


CHAPTER  IX. 

THE  AWAKENING  OF  THE  NATION. 
1825-1828. 

O 'CONN ELL  had  kept  his  promise.  Phcenix- 
like,  a  new  Association  had  sprung  out  of  the 
ashes  of  the  old  one,  and  within  six  months 
from  the  passing  of  the  Insurrection  Act  the  ma- 
chinery of  it  was  in  full  working  order.  Govern- 
ment, without  a  pretext  to  interfere,  looked  on  the 
while  in  stupefied  impotence.  The  joy  of  the 
Catholics  was  unbounded  ;  their  gratitude  to  O'Con- 
nell  unstinted.  A  medal  was  struck  to  commemorate 
his  services,  bearing  his  image  with  the  words  "  Erin 
ma  vourneen,"  surrounded  by  a  wreath  of  shamrock 
and  oak  leaves.  That  autumn,  as  he  went  the 
Munster  circuit,  demonstration  followed  demonstra- 
tion. At  Cork  an  eloquent  address  was  presented 
to  him,  with  the  view  of  proving  to  his  detractors 
that  "  his  purity  of  intention  and  devotion  to  Irish 
interests  continued  unimpeached  in  the  public  estim- 
ation." At  Mallow  he  had  to  plead  the  indifferent 
state  of  his  wife's  health  as  an  excuse  for  evading  an 
ovation.     At  Galway,  where  he  went  on  a  special 

164 


[1825-1828]    Awakening  of  the  Nation.  165 

retainer,  the  city  was  decorated  in  his  honour,  the 
whole  population,  men,  women  and  children,  turning 
out  to  welcome  him  and  drag  his  carriage  in  triumph 
within  the  walls.  At  Wexford  his  reception  was,  if 
possible,  even  more  enthusiastic  and  more  pictur- 
esque. From  an  early  hour  in  the  morning,  the 
harbour  was  alive  with  gaily  painted  boats,  the  quay 
and  bridge  thronged  with  people  in  holiday  attire, 
waiting  to  welcome  him  as  he  approached  the  town 
in  a  triumphal  barge,  from  the  stern  of  which  floated 
a  large  green  flag  with  the  harp  of  Ireland  emblaz- 
oned on  it,  manned  with  rowers  dressed  in  green 
jackets  trimmed  with  gold. 

It  was  a  magnificent  spectacle ;  but,  flattered 
though  he  was  by  it  and  other  signs  of  his  popul- 
arity, O'Connell  was  glad  to  escape  for  a  time  to 
the  peaceful  solitudes  of  his  seaside  home  in  Kerry — 
now  really  his  own.  For  early  in  the  year  1825  his 
uncle  "  Hunting  Cap  "  had  died  at  the  good  old  age 
of  ninety-six,  bequeathing  to  him  Darrynane  and 
the  bulk  of  his  property,  estimated  at  about  £\ooo 
a  year.  For  several  years  before  his  death  he  had 
been  totally  blind  ;  but  age  had  not  dimmed  his 
mental  vision.  He  had  Hved  to  see  the  foundation 
of  the  Catholic  Association,  and,  in  transmitting  his 
subscription  to  the  "  Rent,"  he  had  predicted  the 
speedy  termination  of  the  long  struggle  for  freedom. 
His  letter  had  been  entered  on  the  minutes  of  the 
Association  ;  but  before  the  promised  day  arrived 
he  had  been  gathered  to  his  ancestors.  In  Septem- 
ber O'Connell  took  possession  of  his  new  home. 
Darrynane,  a  cluster  of  buildings  of  unequal  shapes 


1 66  Daniel  O'  Connell.  ti825- 

and  sizes  rather  than  a  single  house,  built  at  different 
times,  and  with  more  regard  to  comfort  and  accom- 
modation than  to  architectural  uniformity,  is  a  pic- 
turesque object  on  the  road  from  Cahirciveen  to 
Kenmare.  But  the  road  itself  belongs  to  a  more 
recent  date,  and  at  the  time  of  which  we  are  speak- 
ing Darrynane  was  almost  inaccessible  to  any  but 
foot-passengers.  Shut  in  on  all  sides  save  one  by 
mountains  rising  to  1 5(X)  and  2000  feet,  the  house 
commands  a  full  prospect  of  the  Atlantic.  To  the 
left  a  rocky  promontory,  transformed  when  the  tides 
are  particularly  high  into  an  island,  separates  it  from 
Ballinskelligs  harbour.  Scattered  about  on  it  are 
the  ruins  of  the  ancient  abbey  which  gives  its  name 
to  the  little  bay  and  the  house  itself,  containing  the 
graves  of  many  of  O'Connell's  ancestors.  To  a 
stranger  the  scenery  on  the  land  side — a  jumble  of 
rock  alternating  with  bog — devoid  of  trees,  except 
for  a  small  shrubbery  planted  by  O'Connell  himself, 
presents  a  rather  dreary  prospect  ;  but  to  O'Connell 
it  was  endeared  by  the  tenderest  recollections  of  his 
childhood,  and  the  tourist  who  will  take  the  trouble 
to  ascend  Coomakista,  when  the  early  rays  of  the 
sun  are  flooding  the  ocean  and  lighting  up  the 
distant  Skelligs,  will  admit  that  the  praise  he  lav- 
ished on  it  is  not  wholly  undeserved.. 

With  the  enthusiasm  of  a  new  proprietor,  O'Con- 
nell no  sooner  found  himself  installed  at  Darrynane 
than  he  began  altering,  planting,  and  building  in  order 
to  make  the  place  more  commodious  and  agreeable 
for  his  wife  and  family.  For  he  was  anxious  to  re- 
move his  establishment  from  Dublin  thither. 


1828]        The  Awakening  of  the  Nation.  167 

"  I  hope,"  he  wrote  to  his  wife,  "  I  will  be  able  to 
prevail  on  my  daughters  to  come  down  very,  very  early 
next  summer.  It  would  be  a  very  great  object  to  me  to 
get  rid  of  a  ;!{^iooo  of  my  debts  during  the  next  two 
terms.  If  I  were  able  to  do  that,  out  of  my  profession, 
I  would  soon  be  altogether  free.  How  I  long  for  that 
day,  darling.  Nothing,  however,  but  some  substantial 
remaining  at  Darrynane,  without  anything  like  an  estab- 
lishment in  Dublin,  will  do  it." 

But  in  this  he  rather  reckoned  without  his  host. 
For  Mrs.  O'Connell,  gentle  and  devoted  wife  though 
she  was,  had  no  idea  of  economy,  or  of  burying 
either  herself  or  her  daughters  in  a  remote  corner  of 
Kerry ;  and  at  the  very  moment  O'Connell  was 
scheming  to  retrench  his  expenses,  her  thoughts 
were  set  on  viceregal  receptions  and  the  pleasures  of 
city  life.  Under  the  circumstances,  therefore,  it  was 
little  wonder  that  his  plans  not  only  came  to  noth- 
ing, but  that  on  the  contrary  his  expenses,  especially 
after  his  election  to  Parliament  rendered  residence 
in  London  for  part  of  the  year  necessary,  should 
have  increased  rather  than  diminished. 

During  the  summer  there  had  been  somewhat  of  a 
lull  in  the  agitation,  due  to  the  anticipation  of  an 
immediate  dissolution  of  Parliament.  But  the  lull 
did  not  mean  stagnation.  On  the  contrary,  there 
had  been  no  end  of  what  Moore  sarcastically  called 
"  oratorical  brawling,"  in  which  O'Connell  had  taken 
his  fair  share.  The  fact  was  that,  despite  his  persist- 
ent attempt  to  ignore  it,  "  the  undergrowl  of  poor 
Jack  Lawless  and  his  few  and  foolish  partisans " 
was  becoming  daily  more  pronounced,  and  on  nth 


1 68  Da7iiel  O'Connell.  [1825- 

July  a  meeting  was  convened  in  Bridge  Street 
chapel,  in  the  parish  of  St.  Audeon's,  for  the  purpose 
of  denouncing  O'Connell's  adoption  of  the  Wings' 
policy.  The  meeting  was  to  have  been  what  we 
should  now  call  a  ticket  meeting,  confined  to  the 
inhabitants  of  the  parish.  But  the  attempt  to  ex- 
clude O'Connell  proved  futile,  and  his  friends  having 
provided  him  with  an  opportunity  to  speak,  he 
proceeded,  amidst  considerable  interruption,  roundly 
to  abuse  the  managers  of  the  meeting  for  their 
attempt  to  sow  dissensions  among  the  Catholics  and 
afford  a  triumph  to  their  enemies.  Having  vented 
his  indignation  he  continued  : 

"  Mr.  Chairman,  I  have  received  votes  of  thanks  from 
almost  every  county  of  Ireland.  They  are  the  greatest 
pride  and  consolation  of  my  heart  ;  and  I  do  trust  that 
ray  conduct  has  never  been  such  as  to  annul  any  claim, 
if  not  to  the  gratitude,  at  least  to  the  approval  of  my 
country.  I  saw  there  was  a  prospect  of  achieving  the 
liberty  of  Ireland  by  means  at  which  and  under  other 
circumstances  I  should  have  shuddered  with  horror. 
But  I  did  not  rest  on  my  own  authority.  I  was  in  com- 
munication with  two  prelates  who  are  the  ornament  of 
Ireland — Dr.  Doyle  and  Dr.  Murray.  Can  I  offer  a 
better  plea  than  when  I  say  that  I  did  nothing,  said 
nothing,  that  had  not  their  entire  concurrence  and  sanc- 
tion ?  .  .  .  With  regard  to  the  measure  affecting  the 
freeholders,  I  am  sensible  that  that  has  been  injurious, 
and  has  retarded  our  progress,  I  know  that  it  has  been 
rather  a  dead-weight  to  impede  us,  than  a  wing  to  help 
us  on  ;  and  no  man  is  more  ready  to  condemn  its  effect, 
or  deplore  its  introduction,  than  I  am.  I  am  conscious 
it  has  done  us  a  dis-service,  and  therefore  I  shall  be  the 


1828]        The  Awakening  of  the  Nation.  169 

first  to  oppose  its  reintroduction,  if  it  should  be  attempted 
at  any  future  time." 

In  conclusion  he  regretted  to  have  spoken  in  rather 
a  rambling  fashion  ;  but  it  was  new  for  him,  in 
Catholic  affairs,  to  speak  on  sufferance,  and  he  trusted 
that  the  example  of  St.  Audeon's  parish,  however 
respectable  otherwise,  would  not  be  followed  in 
trying  to  exclude  the  free  expression  of  opinion  at 
Catholic  meetings. 

His  renunciation  of  the  Wings  soothed  public 
opinion  and,  as  he  expressed  it,  smashed  the  Bridge 
Street  gang.  But  it  is  said  that  when  Dr.  Doyle's 
attention  was  drawn  to  the  paragraph  attributing  to 
him  and  Dr.  Murray  responsibility  for  the  adoption 
of  the  Wings,  he  wept  like  a  child,  and  at  his  request 
Dr.  Kinsella,  the  president  of  Carlow  College,  pub- 
lished a  long  letter  disavowing  the  charge.  The  dis- 
avowal surprised  and  mortified  O'Connell.  Hitherto, 
he  wrote  in  reply,  either  the  natural  elasticity  of  his 
animal  spirits  or  some  other  cause  had  prevented 
him  from  being  affected  by  any  of  the  attacks, 
whether  open  or  insidious,  that  had  been  made  upon 
him,  until  he  found  himself  so  unnecessarily  assailed 
from  a  quarter  to  which  he  had  fondly  looked  for 
friendship,  protection,  and  patronage.  Even  with 
Kinsella's  letter  before  him,  he  failed  to  grasp  Dr. 
Doyle's  position,  and  having  at  a  public  dinner  re- 
curred to  the  matter,  Dr.  Doyle  felt  it  incumbent  on 
him  to  explain  himself  more  precisely  in  the  follow- 
ing words : 

"  What  my  opinion  was  I  declared  in  London  to  ray 
right  reverend  brethren  ;   I  repeated  it  since  in  Dublin  : 


170  Daniel  O'  Connell.  [1825- 

that  if  the  prelates  were  led  to  approve  of  a  provision 
emanating  from  the  Treasury — if  the  ministers  of  Christ 
were  to  be  paid  by  the  minister  of  state  for  dispensing 
the  mysteries  of  God — then,  in  that  case,  I  would  not 
create  dissension  amongst  them  ;  but  sooner  than  that 
my  hand  should  be  soiled  by  it,  I  would  lay  down  my 
office  at  the  feet  of  Him  who  conferred  it,  for  if  my  hand 
were  to  be  stained  with  government  money  it  should 
never  grasp  a  crozier,  or  a  mitre  ever  afterwards  be  fitted 
to  my  brow.     This  was,  and  is  my  fixed  determination." 

It  is  impossible  to  doubt  Doyle's  sincerity,  though 
his  language  before  the  Committee  of  the  House  of 
Commons  conveyed  no  such  strong  determination. 
Feeling,  however,  that  he  had  been  in  the  wrong, 
though  scarcely  understanding  why,  O'Connell  made 
overtures  for  a  reconciliation,  and  the  bishop  having 
accepted  the  proffered  hand  the  controversy  termin- 
ated in  mutual  professions  of  respect. 

But  O'Connell,  though  he  had  cried  peccavi  and 
done  public  penance  for  his  sin,  was  by  no  means 
convinced  of  the  error  of  his  ways ;  and  the  fact  that 
the  Marquis  of  Waterford  had  recently,  in  prospect 
of  the  general  election,  added  largely  to  the  forty- 
shilling  freeholders  on  his  estate,  seemed  proof  posi- 
tive in  favour  of  their  disfranchisement.  But  it  was 
no  use  trj'ing  to  swim  against  the  stream,  and  with 
the  example  of  the  veto  before  him,  he  saw  that  if 
he  was  to  guide  public  opinion  he  must  not  directly 
oppose  it.  He  was  shortly  to  be  convinced  of  the 
wisdom  as  well  as  the  expediency  of  having  yielded. 

On  24th  October  the  new  system  of  provincial 
meetings,  for  the  discussion  of  grievances  and  the 


1828]        The  Awake7iing  of  the  Nation.  1 7 1 

preparation  of  petitions,  was  inaugurated  at  Lim- 
erick. It  proved  eminently  successful,  and  on  i6th 
January,  1826,  it  was  followed  up  by  a  fourteen- 
days'  meeting  in  the  Association  Rooms  in  Dublin. 
Petitions  were  prepared  and  presented  to  Parlia- 
ment ;  but  the  near  approach  of  the  general  election 
deprived  the  session  of  all  interest,  and  moreover  it 
was  felt  to  be  undesirable  to  expose  the  English 
Liberal  members  to  the  temptation,  as  Shell  ex- 
pressed it,  of  endeavouring  "  to  save  their  seats  by 
votes  given  in  the  spirit  of  a  death-bed  repentance." 
On  these  grounds,  therefore,  it  was  thought  wiser  to 
postpone  the  discussion  of  the  Catholic  claims,  and 
to  try  if  possible  to  increase  the  strength  of  the 
party  at  the  hustings.  Parliament  was  dissolved  in 
May,  and  the  struggle  began  at  once.  Nowhere  in 
Ireland  was  it  expected  to  be  fiercer  than  in  county 
Waterford,  where  a  determined  effort  was  to  be 
made  to  wrest  the  representation  out  of  the  hands 
of  the  Beresford  family. 

The  way  of  it  was  this.  Shortly  after  the  "  Bottle 
Riot  "  a  number  of  Catholic  gentlemen  belonging  to 
the  county  had  requisitioned  the  High  Sheriff  to  sum- 
mon a  meeting  for  the  purpose  of  passing  a  vote  of 
condolence  with  the  Lord-Lieutenant,  the  Marquis 
of  Wellesley.  The  Sheriff  with  the  counsel,  if  not 
by  the  direction,  of  the  Marquis  of  Waterford,  had 
refused  to  comply  with  their  requisition.  But  sev- 
eral other  magistrates  had  stepped  forward ;  the 
meeting  had  been  held,  and  the  vote  of  condolence 
passed.  As  usual,  the  gratitude  of  the  Catholics  was 
excessive.     A  banquet  was   given   to   the   "  twelve 


1/2  Daniel  O'Conneil.  [|825- 

honest  Protestant  magistrates,"  and  before  the  party 
broke  up  it  was  resolved  to  visit  their  indignation  on 
the  Marquis  of  Waterford  by  running  an  opposition 
candidate  to  Lord  George  Beresford.  A  neighbour- 
ing proprietor,  Mr.  Villiers  Stuart,  after^vards  Lord 
Stuart  of  the  Decies,  was  invited  to  contest  the  con- 
stituency in  the  Liberal  interest.  The  invitation 
reached  him  while  travelling  in  the  Tyrol,  but  ac- 
cepting it  he  returned  home  immediately  and  threw 
himself  heart  and  soul  into  the  struggle.  No  one 
dreamed  that  he  would  be  successful.  The  majority 
on  the  books  against  him  was  more  than  six  hun- 
dred ;  people  smiled  or  sneered  at  the  ridiculousness 
of  the  attempt ;  his  own  agents  gave  him  little  hope ; 
the  Association  was  silent,  not  wishing  to  injure  it- 
self by  embarking  in  a  hopeless  adventure ;  and  even 
O'Connell,  whom  he  had  at  once  retained  as  his  legal 
adviser,  with  a  six-hundred-guinea  fee,  regarded  the 
prospect  with  despondency,  and  defeat  as  a  foregone 
conclusion. 

How,  indeed,  could  it  prove  otherwise?  In  wealth 
and  political  influence  the  Beresford  family  was  sec- 
ond to  none  in  Ireland.  For  seventy  years  and  more 
they  had  ruled  the  county  of  Waterford  with  unques- 
tioned authority,  looking  upon  the  representation  of 
it  as  their  own  peculiar  right  and  privilege.  In  the 
days  preceding  the  Union  the  name  of  Beresford  had 
been  one  to  conjure  with.  One  of  them,  plain  John 
Beresford,  but  better  known  as  the  "  King  of  Ire- 
land," the  father  of  the  present  Marquis,  had  defied 
and  defeated  one  of  the  most  popular  viceroys  that 
Ireland  had    ever  seen  —  Earl  Fitzwilliam.      Their 


1828]        The  Awakening  of  the  Nation.          1 73 

arrogance  had  only  been  equalled  by  their  rapacity, 
and  there  was  hardly  an  office  of  any  pecuniary  ad- 
vantage in  the  State  which  they  had  not  monopolised. 
The  Union  had  reduced  their  influence  within  straiter 
limits,  and  they  had  seen  with  chagrin  one  depart- 
ment after  another  withdrawn  from  their  grasp.  But 
even  now,  with  powers  curtailed  and  privileges  di- 
minished, their  authority  within  the  limits  of  the 
county  was  only  rivalled  by  the  ducal  house  of  Cav- 
endish. The  head  of  the  family,  the  Marquis  of 
Waterford,  was  an  amiable,  narrow-minded  autocrat, 
with  few  personal  animosities  and  many  political 
prejudices.  Individually  he  was  not  disliked.  On  the 
contrary,  he  had  certain  solid  claims  on  the  esteem 
and  affection  of  the  Catholics.  As  Lord  Tyrone  he 
had  in  1793  introduced  the  Bill  for  their  relief  into  the 
House  of  Commons,  and  his  humanity,  as  commander 
of  the  Waterford  regiment,  during  the  rebellion  of 
1798,  had  gained  for  him  the  honourable  title  of  "  the 
Croppy  Colonel."  His  brother,  Lord  George  Beres- 
ford,  the  actual  sitting  member,  was  in  many  respects 
his  exact  counterpart,  with  a  touch  of  aristocratic  lan- 
guor added  to  his  composition  that  would  have  led 
him,  had  it  been  possible,  to  avoid  the  dura  necessitas 
of  the  hustings.  But,  certain  as  his  re-election  ap- 
peared, nothing  had  been  left  to  chance.  Long  be- 
fore the  dissolution  of  Parliament  had  occurred,  steps 
had  been  taken  to  cultivate  the  good-will  of  the  ten- 
antry. Leases  had  been  granted,  arrears  of  rent  for- 
given, and  money  to  the  extent  of  over  ;^4000,  it  is 
said,  expended  in  improvements.  Lastly,  the  neu- 
trality of  the  Duke  of  Devonshire  had  been  obtained, 


174  Daniel  O'Connell.  [1825- 

and  when  Villiers  Stuart  entered  the  field  it  seemed 
as  if  he  was  courting  certain  defeat.  For  who  could 
have  imagined  that  these  despised  forty-shilling  free- 
holders, with  whom  the  verdict  rested,  would  have 
had  the  courage  to  throw  off  their  ancient  servility 
and  defy  their  masters?  Who  could  have  believed 
that  these  miserable  peasants,  steeped  in  poverty  and 
ignorance, — mere  beasts  of  the  field,  "cattle,"  as 
they  were  indeed  humorously  called,  —  driven  to  the 
polling  booths  with  the  same  passive  indifference  as 
oxen  were  driven  to  the  shambles,  should  ever  have 
dared  to  revolt,  and,  regardless  of  the  consequences, 
have  by  one  supreme  effort  shown  themselves  worthy 
to  exercise  the  privileges  they  possessed  ?  Who 
could  have  foreseen  that  this  election  was  to  mark 
the  beginning  of  a  new  era  in  the  history  of  Ireland  ; 
that  after  a  century  of  oppression  the  nation  was  at 
last  awakening  from  its  long  slumber  ? 

Certainly  not  O'Connell,  as,  the  spring  assizes 
over,  he  proceeded  somewhat  despondently  to 
Waterford  to  fulfil  his  engagement  as  counsel  to 
Villiers  Stuart.  Nevertheless,  it  was  not  long  be- 
fore he  became  conscious  that  some  more  subtle  in- 
fluences than  were  commonly  due  to  the  excitement 
of  an  election  contest  were  at  work  amongst  the 
masses  of  the  people.  Not  only  was  the  enthusiasm 
with 'which  he  and  Villiers  Stuart  were  greeted,  as 
they  made  the  round  of  the  constituency,  greater 
than  he  had  ever  before  witnessed,  but  there  was  a 
ring  of  sincerity  about  it,  and  a  look  of  determina- 
tion in  the  faces  of  the  peasantry  that  he  had  never 
heard  nor  seen  before.     The  following  extracts  from 


K 


1828]        The  Awakening  of  the  Nation.  175 

letters  written  on  the  spot  to  his  wife  help  to  bring 
the  scene  more  vividly  before  us. 

"  Dromana,  19th  June,  1826. 
"...  As  to  yesterday  ...  we  heard  an  early  mass  at 
Waterford,  and  then  started  for  Dungarvan.  We  break- 
fasted at  Kilmacthomas,  a  town  belonging  to  the  Beres- 
fords,  but  the  people  belong  to  us.  They  came  out  to 
meet  us  with  green  boughs,  and  such  shouting  as  you 
can  have  no  idea  of.  I  harangued  them  from  the  win- 
dow of  the  inn,  and  we  had  a  good  deal  of  laughing  at 
the  Beresfords.  Judge  what  the  popular  feeling  must  be, 
when  in  this,  a  Beresford  town,  every  man  their  tenant, 
we  had  such  a  reception.  A  few  miles  further  on  we 
found  a  chapel,  with  the  congregation  assembled  before 
mass.  The  Priest  made  me  come  out,  and  I  addressed 
his  flock,  being  my  second  speech.  The  freeholders 
here  are  the  tenants  of  a  Mr.  Palliser,  who  is  on  the 
adverse  interest,  but  almost  all  of  them  will  vote  for  us. 
We  then  proceeded  to  Dungarvan  on  the  coast.  There 
are  here  about  four  hundred  voters  belonging  to  the 
Duke  of  Devonshire,  His  agents  have  acted  a  most 
treacherous  part  by  us,  and  our  committee  at  Waterford 
were  afraid  openly  to  attack  these  voters  lest  the  Duke 
should  complain  of  our  violating  what  he  calls  his  neu- 
trality. But  I  deemed  that  all  sheer  nonsense,  and  to 
work  we  went.  We  had  a  most  tremendous  meeting 
here  ;  we  harangued  the  people  from  a  platform  erected 
by  the  walls  9f  the  new  chapel.  I  never  could  form  a 
notion  of  the  great  effect  of  popular  declamation  before 
yesterday.  The  clergy  of  the  town  most  zealously  as- 
sisted. We  have,  I  believe,  completely  triumphed,  and 
I  at  present  am  convinced  we  shall  poll  to  the  last  man 
of  these  voters.     We  then  had  a  public  dinner  and  great 


176  Daniel  O^Conneil.  [1825- 

speeching.  We  broke  up  about  nine,  and  Wyse  and  I 
came  here  with  Mr.  Stuart  in  his  carriage.  We  arrived 
about  half  after  ten,  and  are  going  this  day  to  Lismore 
on  another  mission." 

'•  Watkrford,  2 1st  June,  1826. 
"...  The  election  of  Stuart  mm.'  appears  to  me  quite 
certain.  I  took  my  former  opinion  from  timid  persons 
here  ;  ray  present  is  founded  on  actual  experience.  The 
Priests  have  gained  over  a  sufficient  number  of  the  ad- 
verse  voters  to  insure  us  a  decided  majority.  We  have 
already  in  town  a  sufficient  number  of  the  enemy's 
forces  to  decide  the  victory.  When  I  wrote  last  on 
Monday  I  was  at  Dromana.  We  started  soon  after  for 
Cappoquin  and  Lismore,  through  the  loveliest  scenes  in 
nature.  I  was  with  Stuart  in  his  own  chaise,  with  four 
horses,  but  we  had  no  great  occasion,  for  they  were  taken 
off  before  we  got  to  Cappoquin,  and  we  were  drawn  by 
freeholders  three  miles  into  Lismore.  I  never  had  a  no- 
tion of  popular  enthusiasm  till  I  saw  that  scene.  There 
were  thousands  covering  the  precipitous  banks  of  the 
Blackwater  at  Lismore.  The  chapel  is  extremely  spa- 
cious. It  was  crowded  to  suffocation.  We  made  several 
harangues,  and  your  husband  was  as  usual  much  cheered; 
but,  what  was  better,  the  freeholders  crowded  in,  and 
put  down  their  names  in  groups,  and  they  are  all  now 
arriving  in  shoals.  The  Duke  of  Devonshire  was  to 
have  been  neutral^  but  I  believe  I  have  helped  to  put  an 
end  to  his  absurd  notion  of  neutrality." 

Naturally,  this  carrying  of  the  war  into  their  own 
country  was  not  relished  by  the  territorial  magnates. 
It  was  an  "  encroachment  on  the  rights  of  private 
property,"   most    "  ungentlemanly,"   and   the   like. 


1828]        The  Awakening  of  the  Nation.          177 

But  it  was  the  interference  of  the  priests  in  the  elec- 
tion that  roused  their  indignation  to  boiling-point. 
The  agents  of  Lord  George  put  forth  two  addresses 
reviling  them,  and  calling  on  the  people  to  spurn 
their  superstitious  claims.  The  addresses  were  im- 
mediately adopted  by  the  opposite  party  and  left  to 
preach  their  own  moral.  The  attack  on  the  priests 
made  their  work  easier,  and  decided  the  contest. 
The  Duke  of  Devonshire  sent  a  steamer  up  the 
Blackwater  to  bring  his  tenants  in  a  body  to  Wa- 
terford,  hoping  thereby  to  prevent  their  becoming 
infected  with  the  popular  mania.  O'Connell  ha- 
rangued their  wives  and  sweethearts  on  the  danger 
of  embarking  in  a  "  tea-kettle,"  and  the  steamer  re- 
turned to  Waterford  without  a  single  tenant  on 
board.  Next  day  the  polling  began  at  Waterford. 
After  the  two  candidates  had  been  proposed  in  due 
form,  a  grey-haired  old  man,  of  the  name  of  Casey, 
rose  and  proposed  Daniel  O'Connell  as  a  fit  and 
proper  person  to  represent  the  county  in  Parliament. 
It  was  a  preconcerted  arrangement,  in  order  to  give 
him  the  opportunity  of  speaking  from  the  hustings. 
But  the  effect  was  electrical.  A  roar  of  indignation 
burst  from  the  supporters  of  Lord  George,  but  it 
was  drowned  by  the  triumphant  cheers  of  their 
opponents,  and  there  were  those  who,  in  the  light 
of  subsequent  events,  thought  that  had  O'Connell 
persisted  he  might  then  and  there  have  anticipated 
the  victory  reserved  for  Clare  two  years  later.  As  it 
was,  after  speaking  for  two  hours,  he  concluded,  to 
the  evident  relief  of  Stuart  himself,  with  an  assur- 
ance that  he  did  not  wish  to  disturb  the  unanimity 


1/8  Daniel  O^Connell.  [1825- 

of  the  county,  and  should  accordingly  withdraw  his 
pretensions. 

The  result  of  the  first  day's  polling  practically  set- 
tled the  fate  of  the  Beresfords.  Each  day  only 
added  to  their  discomfiture  ;  their  defeat  became  a 
rout,  and  the  battle,  which  they  had  so  confidently 
expected  to  win,  was  lost  simply  through  the  deser- 
tion of  their  own  forces.  The  freeholders  of  Kilmac- 
thomas  and  Portlaw,  the  verj'  pick  of  their  tenantry, 
claimed  the  privilege  of  being  the  first  to  head  the 
revolt,  and  their  claim  was  allowed.  Their  example 
was  infectious,  and  far  from  needing  to  stimulate  the 
enthusiasm  of  the  voters,  the  only  difficulty  was  to 
keep  it  within  legal  bounds.  But  though  VVaterford 
was  crowded  with  strangers,  better  order  had  never 
been  seen  in  the  town.  The  butchers,  the  most  tur- 
bulent portion,  it  might  be  conceived,  of  the  com- 
munity, formed  themselves  into  a  society  for  the 
preservation  of  the  peace,  and  dividing  the  town 
into  walks  patrolled  it  each  night  in  parties  of  six 
with  white  wands  so  long  as  the  election  lasted, 
sending  home  to  their  respective  abodes  every 
freeholder  whom  they  met  rambling  about  after 
eleven  o'clock.  After  resorting  to  every  artifice  to 
lengthen  out  the  time.  Lord  George  withdrew  on 
the  fifth  day  from  the  contest,  which  had  cost  his 
family  at  least  ;^  100,000.  As  for  the  Marquis  of 
Waterford,  who  had  long  been  in  a  declining  state  of 
health,  he  never  recovered  from  his  defeat,  and,  un- 
able to  bear  his  disgrace,  shortly  afterwards  quitted 
Curraghmore  for  ever.  The  defection  of  his  own 
household  had  wounded  him  most  of  all,  and  a  pa- 


1828]        The  Awakening  of  the  Nation.  179 

thetic  story  was  told  by  Sheil  how,  on  being  informed 
that  his  favourite  huntsman,  Manton,  had  voted  for 
the  opposition  candidate,  he  caused  him  to  be  sum- 
moned to  his  bedside.  "  Manton,"  said  he,  "  have 
you,  too,  abandoned  me?  "  "  God  bless  your  lord- 
ship, and  long  life  to  you,"  sobbed  the  old  retainer. 
"  I  would  go  to  the  world's  end  to  serve  you  ;  but  I 
cannot  vote  against  my  country  and  my  religion." 

The  revolt  of  the  forty-shilling  freeholders  was  not 
confined  to  Waterford.  In  Louth,  Monaghan,  Ar- 
magh, and  Westmeath  similar  scenes  occurred  and 
similar  victories  were  recorded.  Astonishment  seized 
the  nation.  The  joy  of  the  Catholics  was  only 
equalled  by  the  rage  of  the  Orangemen.  Both  alike 
saw  that  the  goal  was  in  sight.  But  if  Emancipation 
was  certain,  it  was  also  certain  that  the  means  by 
which  it  had  been  achieved  would  be  destroyed. 
The  policy  of  1793 — of  giving  with  the  one  hand  and 
taking  away  with  the  other  —  would  be  repeated. 
The  forty-shilling  freeholders  were  doomed. 

The  unsatisfactory  state  of  his  wife's  health,  and 
the  necessity  of  clearing  off  arrears  of  professional 
business,  obliged  O'Connell  the  moment  the  election 
was  over  to  return  to  Dublin.  No  one  had  been 
more  surprised  than  he  at  the  independence  displayed 
by  the  forty-shilling  freeholders,  and  he  was  anxious, 
as  he  expressed  it,  "  to  read  his  recantation  "  on  that 
subject  before  the  contest  for  the  county  of  Dublin 
was  decided.  It  was  true  he  had  consented  before 
the  election  to  waive  his  opinion  from  a  desire  not 
to  oppose  the  wish  of  the  nation,  but  he  was  now,  he 
declared,  convinced  that  the  nation  had  been  right 


i8o  Daniel  O'CanneiL 


[1825- 


and  himself  wrong.  His  judgment  was  no  longer  on 
that  subject  what  it  had  been.  The  delusion  under 
which  he  had  laboured  was  gone  for  ever.  The  forty- 
shilling  freeholders  had  emancipated  themselves 
from  their  political  thraldom,  and  burst  the  bonds 
and  fetters  which  had  previously  held  them  in  slav- 
er}\  Not  to  return  them  thanks  for  the  boundless 
patriotism  which  they  had  everywhere  exhibited 
would  be  doing  them  a  great  wrong  and  insulting  his 
own  judgment.  He  should  therefore  move  "  that  we 
deem  it  our  duty,  publicly  and  solemnly  to  declare 
that  we  will  not  accept  of  emancipation  accompanied 
by  any  infringement  of  the  forty-shilling  franchise." 
A  week  or  two  later  he  went  with  his  wife  to  Darry- 
nane.  At  Cahirciveen  his  tenants  had  assembled 
in  a  body  to  welcome  him  home,  and  taking  the 
horses  from  his  carriage  insisted  on  dragging  it,  prob- 
ably more  to  their  own  gratification  than  to  the  com- 
fort of  its  occupants,  over  bog  and  boulder  all  the 
way  to  Darrj'nane. 

But  the  pleasures  of  rural  life  and  the  joys  of  hare- 
hunting  were  shortly  interrupted  by  more  serious 
matters.  The  victory  of  the  forty-shilling  freehold- 
ers had  been  dearly  purchased.  Vengeance  terrible 
and  swift  had  fallen  on  them.  Advantage  was 
taken  of  unpaid  arrears  of  rent :  tenants  were  ejected 
at  a  minute's  notice  without  mercy ;  whole  families 
turned  out  to  starve  on  the  highways — in  short,  every 
engine  that  wounded  pride  and  disappointed  ambi- 
tion could  suggest  was  put  in  action  against  these 
unfortunate  and  too  independent  forty-shilling  free- 
holders.     So  acute  was  the  distress  occasioned  in 


1828]        The  Awakening  of  the  Nation.  i8i 

many  parts  by  these  ruthless  proceedings  that  seri- 
ous apprehensions  were  entertained  of  a  recurrence 
of  those  acts  of  personal  retaliation  and  agrarian 
crime  which  had  at  all  times  been  so  anxiously  iden- 
tified by  their  enemies  with  the  Catholic  cause. 
Towards  the  latter  end  of  August  a  provincial  meet- 
ing was  held  at  Waterford  to  celebrate  the  recent 
victory.  The  proceedings  included  a  public  dinner, 
which  Earl  Fitzwilliam,  "the  great  and  good,"  hon- 
oured with  his  presence.  The  main  topic  of  conversa- 
tion was  naturally  the  forty-shilling  freeholders.  Much 
sympathy  was  expressed  for  their  fate ;  but  it  was 
reserved  for  O'Connell  to  make  the  only  practical 
suggestion  for  their  relief.  What  was  wanted  was  of 
course  money — money  to  enable  distressed  tenants 
to  pay  up  their  outstanding  "  gales,"  or  arrears  of 
rent,  and  avoid  ejectment.  Had  the  "  Algerine  Act  " 
not  scotched  the  Catholic  Rent  there  would,  said 
O'Connell,  have  been  no  difficulty  about  the  matter. 
He  therefore  suggested  the  formation  of  a  new  or- 
ganisation or  voluntary  association  of  Irishmen  "  for 
purposes  legal  and  useful  to  Ireland."  An  "  Order 
of  Liberators  "  should  be  established,  having  the  fol- 
lowing for  its  objects : — to  prevent  the  formation  or 
continuance  of  secret  societies ;  to  conciliate  all 
classes  of  Irishmen  in  one  bond  of  brotherhood  and 
affection ;  to  bury  in  total  and  eternal  oblivion  all 
ancient  animosities  and  reproaches ;  to  prevent  the 
future  occurrence  of  feuds  and  riots  at  markets,  fairs, 
and  patrons  ;  to  promote  the  collection  of  a  national 
fund  for  national  purposes,  as  far  as  that  can  be  done 
consistently  with  law  ;  to  protect  all  persons  possessed 


1 82  Daniel  O^Connell.  E1825- 

of  the  elective  franchise,  and  especially  the  forty- 
shilling  freeholders,  from  all  vindictive  proceedings 
on  account  of  the  free  exercise  of  such  franchise  ;  to 
promote  the  acquisition  of  such  franchise  and  its  due 
registry ;  to  ascertain  the  number  of  votes  in  each 
county  and  city  of  Ireland,  and  the  political  bias  of 
the  voters  generally ;  to  promote  a  system  of  dealing 
exclusively  with  the  friends  of  civil  and  religious 
liberty,  to  promote  the  exclusive  use  of  articles  the 
growth  and  manufacture  of  Ireland ;  to  form  t^vo 
distinct  tribunals  in  every  county,  with  branches  in 
every  town  and  village  therein — the  one  for  the  pur- 
pose  of  reconciling  differences  and  procuring  parties 
to  adjust  their  litigations  and  disputes,  the  other  for 
the  purpose  of  deciding,  by  arbitration,  litigations 
and  disputes  between  parties  who  may  resist  a  set- 
tlement without  arbitration. 

The  association,  which  was  to  be  open  to  anyone 
not  belonging  to  a  secret  society,  was  to  consist  of 
three  grades,  viz. — Liberators  par  excellence,  to  which 
rank  everyone  who  had  performed  one  act  of  real  ser- 
vice to  his  country  was  entitled  ;  knights  companions, 
who  had  performed  two  acts  of  service ;  knights 
grand-cross  who  had  performed  three  acts  of  service. 
There  was  to  be  a  chancellor  and  a  bishop  attached 
to  the  order,  and  the  grand  master  was  to  be  the 
Earl  of  Cloncurry.  O'Connell's  own  claims  for  ad- 
mission were :  first,  having  served  Ireland  for  twenty- 
seven  years ;  second,  having  formed  the  Association 
of  1823:  and,  third,  having  organised  the  Catholic 
Rent.  One  is  tempted  to  smile  at  the  formal  pre- 
cision with  which  he  elaborated  his  plan  ;  but  in  this 


1828]        The  Awakening  of  the  Nation.  183 

he  knew  quite  well  what  he  was  about,  and  did  not 
miscalculate  the  practical  value  of  an  appeal  to  his 
countrymen's  imagination  and  love  of  theatrical 
display. 

"On  Wednesday,"  he  wrote  the  following  Saturday, 
2nd  September,  to  his  wife,  "  I  quietly  installed  my  Lib- 
erators. They  will  make  a  noise  yet.  You  would  laugh 
to  hear  the  multitude  of  wiseacres  I  had  advising  me  on 
that  subject.  My  brother  John  was  one  of  those  who 
think  I  do  not  know  what  I  am  about  in  politics.  How 
much  I  mind  their  sapient  advice  !  The  Liberators  will 
do  yet." 

He  was  not  mistaken  in  his  forecast,  and,  for  him- 
self, the  title  of  "  Liberator,"  to  which  subsequent 
events  imparted  a  more  intensive  meaning,  is  still 
the  one  by  which  he  is  best  known. 

But  all  this  elaborate  scheme  was  merely  pre- 
paratory to  his  main  object  —  the  establishment  of 
a  new  Rent  for  the  protection  of  the  forty-shilling 
freeholders.  It  was  a  favourite  remark  of  his  that 
he  had  taught  Irishmen  to  consult  the  state  of  the 
money  market  in  the  newspaper  before  turning  to 
the  political  news.  In  fact,  no  one  ever  estimated 
money  as  a  factor  in  politics  more  highly  than  did 
he.  It  was  the  mainspring  of  his  whole  agitation. 
Accordingly,  he  had  no  sooner  established  his 
"  Order  of  Liberators "  than  he  issued  a  stirring 
appeal  "  to  the  people  of  Ireland  "  to  assist  him  in 
forming  a  new  Rent.  The  question  he  had  to  put 
to  every  reflecting  Catholic  was — Are  the  forty- 
shilling  freeholders,  after  having  displayed  a  devot- 
edness   of   resolution,    and    a   single-heartedness   of 


184  Daniel  O* Conneil.  [1825- 

purpose,  of  which  they  could  have  seen  few  examples 
in  the  wealthier  classes,  to  be  abandoned  to  the 
vengeance  of  their  exasperated  landlords?  The 
persecution,  he  reminded  his  readers,  was  already 
raging  in  many  quarters. 

"  In  Westmeath,  the  tenants  on  the  estate  of  that  un- 
relenting enemy  of  ours,  Lord  Castlemaine,  are  distrained 
for  the  May  rent.  Men,  who  owe  no  part  of  the  last 
November  gale,  require  nothing  but  a  temporary  advance 
in  order  to  enable  them  to  bear  up  against  legal  persecu- 
tion. Catholics  of  Ireland,  can  any  proposition  be  more 
clear  than  this — we  are  bound  by  every  tie  of  interest, 
honour,  good-feeling,  and  conscience,  to  afford  all 
practical  protection  to  the  freeholders  who  have  achieved 
our  recent  victories  ?  If  that  protection  be  not  extended 
to  them,  it  shall  not  be  my  fault.  It  can  easily  be 
afforded  them.  Let  no  man  be  deterred  by  the  mean 
and  pusillanimous  assertion  that  it  is  impossible  to 
protect  so  many.  They  can  all  be  easily  protected. 
But  even  if  we  were  not  able  to  protect  more  than  some, 
yet  it  would  be  our  sacred  duty  to  protect  that  some. 
But  I  rejoice  to  say  we  can  protect  all.  The  mode  of 
protecting  them  is  by  forming  a  fund  to  advance  loans 
to  all  those  against  whom  the  vengeance  of  the  land- 
lords shall  be  directed.  .  .  .  But  resources  are 
wanting.  Money,  the  life-spring  of  all  pubHc  exertions, 
is  wanting.  Individual  subscriptions  can  never  be  suf- 
ficient. It  requires  a  national  effort :  it  requires  the 
revival  of  the  Catholic  Rent.  Once  before  at  my 
voice  that  fund  was  created.  Once  before  all  Ireland 
became  responsive  to  the  call  of  patriotism.  .  .  . 
The  Catholic  people  of  Ireland  are  a  nation.  They 
should   have   something   in   the   nature   of    a  national 


k 


1828]        The  Awakening  of  the  Nation.  185 

treasury.  As  long  as  the  law  separates  us  from  our 
Protestant  fellow-countrymen,  so  long  we  must  have  a 
fund  to  meet  the  necessary  expenditures  which  grow 
out  of  our  separate  and  most  anomalous  state  in  society. 
For  these  purposes,  I  call  upon  the  Catholics  and  the 
Liberal  Protestants  in  Ireland  to  form  a  national  fund,  to 
be  called  "  the  new  Catholic  Rent,"  for  all  purposes 
not  prohibited  by  law,  and  especially  for  the  purpose  of 
national  education.  Let  that  be  the  title  of  the  new 
Rent.  Who  will  begin  to  collect  it  ?  .  ,  .  .  Who 
will  begin  in  his  parish  ?  Clergyman  or  layman,  who- 
ever he  be,  glory  to  him !  If  only  one  begins,  the 
example,  as  before,  will  spread  far  and  wide,  and  we 
shall  exhibit  the  noble  example  of  a  national  tax,  vol- 
untarily assessed  and  cheerfully  paid.  The  Catholic 
clergy  in  Armagh,  Monaghan,  Louth,  Westmeath,  and 
Waterford  have  set  a  heroic  example.  How  many  a 
generous  heart  in  other  counties  has  felt  a  patriotic  envy 
at  the  better  fate  of  those  who  could  take  a  share  in  the 
actual  contest  ?  It  was  and  is,  a  noble  emulation.  Well, 
then,  here  is  an  opportunity  which  comes  home  to  the 
door  of  every  Catholic  clergyman  in  every  county  in 
Ireland.  He  may,  by  his  exertions  for  this  Rent,  be- 
come a  Liberator  like  his  fellow-countryman  in  Water- 
ford  or  Westmeath,  Louth  or  Cavan,  Monaghan  or 
Armagh." 

The  nation  responded  to  his  call.  Within  a  week 
or  two  after  the  publication  of  the  letter  the  "  New 
Rent  "  had  risen  to  ^200.  Nor  was  O'Connell  disap- 
pointed in  its  effects.  The  "  Order  of  Liberators  " 
welded  itself  immediately  and  imperceptibly  on  to  the 
machinery  of  the  Association.  Ejectments  became 
rarer  as  the  landlords  found  their  conduct  exposed 


1 86  Daniel  O' Connell,  [1825- 

to  hostile  criticism  and  their  attacks  on  their  ten- 
ants met  by  retaliatory  measures  for  the  purchas- 
ing up  of  outstanding  judgments  against  themselves. 
The  principle  of  arbitration  slowly  but  surely  gained 
ground,  greatly  to  the  benefit  of  the  tenant.  Find- 
ing themselves  supported  by  the  whole  forces  of  the 
Association,  the  forty-shilling  freeholders  plucked  up 
courage  to  assert  their  privileges,  and  there  was  little 
doubt  that,  with  ordinary  exertions,  the  Catholics 
would  return  three-fourths  of  the  representation  of 
Ireland  at  the  next  ensuing  election. 

Parliament  met  in  November.  The  King's  Speech 
contained  no  reference  to  Ireland.  So  it  was,  re- 
marked Brougham,  on  the  eve  of  the  war  with  Amer- 
ica ;  when  America  was  the  word  which  hung  upon 
the  quivering  lip  of  every  man,  no  allusion  was  made 
to  it  in  the  Speech  from  the  Throne.  A  fourteen- 
days*  meeting  held  in  Dublin  in  January,  1827,  re- 
solved to  petition  Parliament,  and  on  5th  March  Sir 
Francis  Burdett  moved  "  that  this  House  is  deeply 
impressed  with  the  necessity  of  taking  into  immedi- 
ate consideration  the  laws  inflicting  penalties  on  his 
Majesty's  Roman  Catholic  subjects,  with  the  view  of 
removing  them."  The  motion  was  opposed  by  Peel, 
and  lost  by  276  to  272.  O'Connell,  who  was  at  En- 
nis  when  the  news  reached  him,  considered  it  the 
most  signal  defeat  which  had  befallen  Ireland  since 
the  Union. 

*'  Another  crime,"  he  wrote  to  the  Secretary  of  the  As- 
sociation, "  has  been  added  to  those  which  England  has 
inflicted  on  this  wretched  land ;  another  instance  of 
genuine  Reformation  bigotry  has  disgraced  the  British 


1828]        The  Awakening  of  the  Nation.  187 

nation.  But  a  just  and  good  God  is  looking  on,  and  in 
His  own  good  time  will  be  His  own  avenger.  I  agree 
with  those  who  totally  refuse  to  despair.  We  must  rally 
for  a  new  exertion.  .  .  .  We  must  renew  our  peti- 
tions to  the  Houses  of  Parliament.  We  must  have  an- 
other debate  immediately  after  Easter  :  we  must  never 
let  the  question  rest.  .  .  .  Strong  measures  should 
now  be  resorted  to  —  as  strong  as  are  consistent  with 
legal  and  constitutional  limits.  A  Petition  for  the  Re- 
peal of  the  Union  should  be  immediately  prepared. 
There  are  but  few  patriots  among  the  Irish  Protestants, 
but  the  few  there  are  would  join  us  in  that  ;  or  if  not, 
let  us  petition  alone  for  the  repeal  of  a  measure  which 
has  increased  every  evil  Ireland  has  endured,  and  taken 
away  every  prospect  of  a  mitigation  of  the  causes  of  the 
poverty  and  wretchedness  of  the  country." 

His  letter  broaching  the  repeal  of  the  Union 
caused  something  approaching  to  consternation 
among  the  more  moderate  members  of  the  Asso- 
ciation, and  O'Connell  had  to  thank  the  pertinacity 
of  his  quondam  adversary.  Lawless,  that  the  chair- 
man, Sir  Thomas  Esmonde,  did  not  succeed  in  sup- 
pressing it. 

But  just  as  the  hopes  of  the  Catholics  had  touched 
their  nadir  the  whirligig  of  events  sent  them  up 
again  into  the  seventh  heaven.  In  March  an  apoplec- 
tic stroke,  depriving  him  of  the  power  of  speech, 
compelled  the  Prime  Minister,  Lord  Liverpool,  after 
having  held  the  reins  of  government  for  fifteen 
years,  to  resign  office.  His  successor,  Canning, 
"  the  minister  of  representative  Europe,"  as  he  was 
styled,    had    long   shown    himself   a   friend    to   the 


1 88  Dafiiel  O' Co7inell.  [1825- 

Catholics.  He  could  not,  as  he  said,  after  all,  forget 
that  he  was  an  Irishman.  And  though  emancipa- 
tion was  still  understood  to  be  an  open  question, 
the  withdrawal  of  the  Duke  of  Wellington,  Lord 
Eldon,  Peel,  and  Lord  Bathurst,  and  the  substitution 
of  Lamb  for  Goulburn  as  Secretary  for  Ireland, 
were  signs  which  no  one  under  the  circumstances 
was  likely  to  misinterpret.  But  Canning,  while  he 
regarded  emancipation  as  a  just  demand,  the  con- 
cession of  which  was  likely  to  be  fraught  with  essen- 
tial benefit  to  the  empire,  had  no  desire,  as  he 
expressed  it,  "  to  provoke  even  for  that  purpose  the 
sort  of  passive  resistance  which  might,  he  feared,  be 
aroused  in  Great  Britain."  On  the  contrary,  he  was 
anxious  to  postpone  the  entire  discussion  of  it  till 
both  sides  were  prepared  "  to  take  a  more  rational 
view  of  the  subject."  Party  passion  must  be  allayed 
in  England  ;  the  agitation  in  Ireland  must  cease, 
and  time  be  afforded  to  consider  the  question  ration- 
ally and  philosophically.  The  idea  bewrayed  the 
man. 

O'Connell,  to  whom  Canning's  views  had  been 
communicated  by  the  Knight  of  Kerry,  replied  to 
the  latter, — 

"  I  received  your  qvieting  letter,  and,  of  course,  gave 
it  the  most  unaffected  consideration.  But  you  will  re- 
collect that  the  question  does  not  rest  with  me.  /  can 
easily  be  quieted,  but  there  are  the  people  at  large  ;  there 
is  the  Irish  nation  kept  in  the  miserable  state  of  hope 
deferred.  .  .  .  You  know  perfectly  well  that  this 
country  has  been  governed  for  the  last  twenty  years  by 
the  triumvirate  of  Lord  Manners,  Saurin,  and  Gregory, 


1828]        The  Awakening  of  the  Nation.  189 

and  they  still  continue  to  govern.  They  brought  Ireland 
to  the  very  verge  of  a  sanguinary  struggle.  If  the 
system  were  pursued  without  hope  of  alteration  for  one 
year  more,  there  never  yet  was  so  bitter  or  so  bloody  a 
contest  in  this  country,  often  as  it  has  been  stained  with 
blood.  And  the  first  step  to  bring  us  back  to  peaceable 
courses  would  be  to  deprive  those  of  power  who  were 
the  prime  movers  of  discontent  and  the  most  prominent 
causes  of  irritation.  .  .  .  The  country  remains  in  a 
feverish  state,  and  it  requires  to  be  soothed  by  a  change 
of  system,  which  cannot  possibly  take  place  without 
a  change  of  men." 

In  a  word,  good  government  was  what  O'Connell 
wanted, — just  and  impartial  administration  of  exist- 
ing laws,  —  a  guarantee  that  they  would  not  be 
twisted  according  to  the  prejudices  of  those  who 
had  the  execution  of  them.  That  granted,  emanci- 
pation could  wait,  the  repeal  of  the  Union  could 
wait,  until  time  had  demonstrated  the  utility  or 
necessity  of  either  or  both.  Not  separation,  not 
exclusion,  was  what  he  desired,  but  a  real  union  with 
admission  into  the  privileges  of  the  constitution. 
A  reasonable  demand  it  might  be  called.  The  pity 
of  it  was  that  under  the  circumstances  this  equality 
before  the  law  for  which  he  asked  was  even  more 
difficult  to  attain  than  either  emancipation  or  the 
repeal  of  the  Union.  For  it  meant  more  than  either. 
It  meant  the  turning  back  the  hands  of  the  clock  of 
history  for  at  least  two  centuries ;  it  meant  the 
obliteration  of  every  cause  that  divided  Ireland  into 
two  hostile  camps  ;  it  meant  the  practically  impos- 
sible.    Sooner  would  the  lion  lie  down  in  peace  with 


190  Daniel  O'Connell.  ii825- 

the  lamb,  than  the  Orangeman  admit  the  equality 
of  the  Catholic.  The  penal  laws  and  the  Union 
were  merely  the  sign  and  symbol  of  an  anomalous 
state  of  affairs,  having  its  roots  in  religious  discord 
and  conquest  by  confiscation. 

An  oligarchical  government  must  rest  on  force  for 
its  ultimate  sanction.  To  the  oligarchy  in  Ireland 
the  Union  implied  the  might  of  England.  This  was 
their  sanction.  And  the  thing  to  be  remarked  is 
that  de  facto  ever  since  the  day  when  Henry  VIII. 
planned  the  conquest  of  Ireland  by  "  politic  shifts 
and  amiable  persuasions "  this  sanction  has  never 
been  wanting.  The  Act  of  Union  in  itself  was  no 
new  thing.  In  one  shape  or  other  it  had  always  ex- 
isted. Ireland  for  the  last  three  and  a  half  centuries 
has  never  been  independent.  Not  even  the  nominal 
independence  of  the  Irish  Parliament  between  1782 
and  1800  can  conceal  the  fact;  for  during  these 
eighteen  years  England,  through  her  Home  Secre- 
tary and  her  English  executive  in  Dublin  Castle,  had 
never  for  one  moment  relaxed  her  hold  on  the  island. 
The  rescinding  of  the  Act  of  Union  means  nothing 
if  it  means  only  the  restoration  of  pre-existing  condi- 
tions: it  means  revolution  and  perhaps  bloodshed, 
if  it  means  the  withdrawal  of  England  from  the  con- 
nection. Out  of  revolution  will  issue  a  normal  state 
of  affairs ;  but  if  statesmanship  counts  for  anything, 
its  highest  office  is  to  achieve  this  normal  state  of 
affairs  without  a  bloody  revolution.  So  long,  how- 
ever, as  an  oligarchy  continued  to  govern  Ireland  the 
impartial  administration  of  the  laws  was  simply  im- 
possible.    For  it  was  through  the  maladministration 


• 


1828]        The  Awakening  of  the  Nation.  191 

of  them— through  jury-packing,  political  judges, 
one-sided  proclamations,  and  the  like — that  it  man- 
aged to  maintain  its  authority.  It  kept  the  letter 
but  broke  the  spirit,  and  England  was  there  to  see 
that  the  letter  of  the  law  was  obeyed.  O'Connell, 
as  we  shall  see,  was  condemned  in  Ireland  and  ac- 
quitted by  the  House  of  Lords.  Still,  it  must  be 
admitted  that  a  change  of  men  offered  some  chance 
of  alleviation.  It  was  some  relief  that  men  grown 
hoary  in  twisting  the  laws  to  political  ends,  like 
Saurin  and  Norbury,  should  be  superseded  by  less 
bigoted  men.  The  only  question  for  a  responsible 
statesman  bound  to  maintain  the  Union  was,  how 
far  such  a  change  of  men  might  go  without  endan- 
gering the  whole  fabric.  It  was  the  thin  end  of  the 
wedge,  and  O'Connell  knew  it.  Hence  his  persist- 
ent demand  for  a  change  of  system  ;  hence  his  offer 
to  drop  his  agitation  for  Emancipation  at  one  time, 
and  for  Repeal  at  another. 

Unfortunately,  before  it  was  possible  to  test  the 
scope  and  intention  of  Canning's  policy,  his  death 
early  in  August  put  an  end  to  his  administration. 
His  death  was  a  grievous  blow  to  the  Catholics. 
*'  We  have,"  said  O'Connell,  "  lost  a  powerful 
friend  :  the  mothers  of  Irish  children  have  lost  a  pro- 
tector ;  and  the  blessings  which  under  his  adminis- 
tration we  hoped  soon  to  enjoy  are  now  suddenly 
hurried  from  us  and  shew  but  like  a  dim  and  distant 
vision."  After  a  brief  interregnum,  during  which 
the  reins  that  had  fallen  from  Canning's  hand  were 
held  by  Lord  Goderich,  Wellington  formed  his 
famous  administration.     Of  necessity  the  Catholic 


192  Daniel  O'Connell.  [1825- 

agitation  immediately  recommenced.  In  January, 
1828,  there  was  a  fourteen-days'  meeting  in  Dublin 
for  the  purpose  of  petitioning  Parliament.  Nor  was 
this  all.  A  suggestion  of  Shell's  that  simultaneous 
meetings  should  be  held  on  one  particular  day  in 
every  parish  in  Ireland  for  the  purpose  of  supporting 
the  petition  was  put  into  execution.  Accordingly, 
on  the  same  day,  and  at  the  same  hour,  Sunday, 
2 1st  January,  meetings  were  held  in  upwards  of  fifteen 
hundred  Catholic  churches,  and  the  Dublin  Evening 
Post  calculated,  "  on  the  presumption  of  one  thou- 
sand persons  having  attended  each  meeting  (cer- 
tainly a  moderate  average),  that  not  less  than  one 
million  five  hundred  thousand  persons  were  simul- 
taneously assembled  for  the  same  object  on  this  im- 
pressive occasion."  "  Impressive,"  it  might  well  be 
called,  when  it  was  recollected  that  each  of  these 
i,5CX),cxx)  men  had  obeyed  the  simple  fiat  of  the  As- 
sociation. What,  it  was  asked  by  attentive  observ- 
ers, would  happen  if  the  Association  ordered  them 
to  meet  with  arms  in  their  hands  ?  So  long  as  O'Con- 
nell  maintained  his  authority  such  a  command  would 
never  issue.  But  it  was  a  threat  in  terrorem  which 
the  Duke  of  Wellington  was  not  likely  to  under- 
value. The  Association  had  shown  its  strength  :  it 
was  for  ministers  to  estimate  the  probability  and 
consequences  of  a  collision. 

For  the  Association  itself  this  extraordinary  ex- 
hibition of  its  own  power  had  the  effect  of  still 
further  stimulating  its  exertions.  In  one  respect 
its  operation  had  disappointed  O'Connell's  expecta- 
tions.   The  ;^5o,ooo  annual  Rent  upon  which  he  had, 


18281        The  Awakening  of  the  Nation.  193 

at  its  first  institution,  so  confidently  counted  had 
never  once  been  realised.  At  most  it  had  amounted 
to  barely  the  half,  and  then  only  in  consequence  of 
special  exertions.  The  reason  of  it  was  plain.  The 
collection  had  been  left  too  much  to  individual  ex- 
ertion. In  order  to  systematise  it  O'Connell  now- 
suggested  the  appointment  of  two  Catholic  church- 
wardens in  each  parish.  A  set  of  rules  was  drawn 
up  for  their  guidance,  in  furnishing  short  monthly 
reports  of  the  progress  of  the  Rent  and  the  Census ; 
the  attitude  of  the  landlords  toward  their  tenantry, 
in  regard  to  ejectments  for  non-payment  of  rent  or 
the  exercise  of  the  franchise ;  the  amount  paid  for 
tithes,  church  cess,  etc. ;  the  establishment  of  Kildare 
Place  schools,  and  the  progress  of  proselytism  in 
their  respective  neighbourhoods.  Further,  in  order 
to  stimulate  an  interest  in  the  general  progress  of 
the  movement,  a  Weekly  Register  was  sent  down  to 
each  of  the  churchwardens  every  Saturday,  contain- 
ing the  amplest  report  of  the  speeches  and  resolu- 
tions of  the  Tuesday  and  Thursday  meetings  of  the 
Association.  These  it  was  the  duty  of  the  church- 
wardens to  read  aloud  each  Sunday  at  the  chapel 
door  and  then  to  file.  The  institution  of  the  church- 
wardens gave  an  immense  impetus  to  the  political 
education  of  the  nation.  Shortly  before  the  dissolu- 
tion of  the  Association  it  was  calculated  that  six 
thousand  copies  of  the  Register  were  sent  every  week 
into  the  country.  The  nation  had  become  a  nation 
of  politicians :  not  a  single  chapel  which  had  not  its 
lecturer,  not  a  single  lecturer  who  had  not  thousands 

for  his  audience. 
13 


194  Daniel  O^Connell.  [1825- 

Yet  a  further  development  remains  to  be  recorded 
in  the  establishment  of  Liberal  clubs  in  every  county 
and  parish.  The  idea  originated  with  Thomas  Wyse, 
the  historian  of  the  Catholic  Association,  by  which 
it  was  immediately  adopted.  The  elements  of  the 
system  already  existed  in  the  parochial  committees 
for  arbitration.  The  object  was  to  bring  them  into 
closer  touch  with  the  central  organisation  in  Dublin, 
To  effect  this  it  was  proposed :  first,  that  the  As- 
sociation should  continue  the  head  club,  committee, 
or  association ;  second,  that  in  each  county  there 
should  be  established  a  similar  association  or  club 
under  the  immediate  control  of  the  Association  ; 
third,  that  in  each  parish  there  should  be  formed  a 
similar  club  under  the  immediate  control  of  the 
county  club — thus  rising  by  just  gradations,  chain 
linked  within  chain,  from  a  group  of  peasants  in  the 
lowest  hamlet  in  the  land,  until  at  last  it  terminated 
in  the  full  assembly  of  the  Catholic  Association. 
Before  long  Liberal  clubs  sprang  into  existence  in 
every  county  in  Munster,  and  in  most  counties  in 
Leinster  and  Connaught.  The  parishes  followed 
the  example  of  their  respective  counties,  and  in  an 
incredibly  short  time  the  Catholics  of  Ireland  were 
provided  with  a  system  of  representation  more  com- 
plete and  infinitely  more  useful  than  was  furnished 
by  Parliament  itself.  The  extension  of  constitutional 
knowledge,  the  propagation  of  liberal  feeling  amongst 
all  classes  of  the  community,  the  suppression  of  re- 
ligious feuds  and  private  quarrels,  and  above  all 
the  most  exact  obedience  to  the  very  letter  of  the 
la\v — these  were  the  objects  of  the  institution.    What 


1828]        The  Awakening  of  the  Nation.  195 

inestimable  benefits  to  the  country  at  large  it  might 
have  been  productive  of,  had  it  been  allowed  to 
perfect  itself,  one  can  only  imagine.  Before  that  day 
arrived,  Catholic  emancipation  had  been  conceded 
and  the  Association  had  been  dissolved.  As  it  was, 
the  parish  clubs  were  of  infinite  service  in  promoting 
the  political  education  of  the  nation,  in  stimulating 
inquiry  on  all  subjects  touching  the  welfare  of  the 
country,  in  promoting  a  better  feeling  between  ten- 
ant and  landlord,  and  in  smoothing  away  causes  of 
irritation  amongst  the  peasantry  themselves.  What 
causes  of  dispute  the  parish  was  unable  to  redress 
were  referred  to  the  county,  and  by  the  county  to 
the  Association. 

Naturally  the  anti-Catholics  were  not  slow  to  take 
a  leaf  out  of  the  Association's  book.  They  already 
possessed  in  the  Orange  Society  an  engine  of  for- 
midable strength  ;  but  there  were  many  Protestants 
to  whom  the  constitution  of  that  society  was  ob- 
jectionable. The  foundation  of  a  Brunswick  Club 
was  accordingly  started  in  Dublin,  with  affiliated 
branches  throughout  the  country.  The  name  was 
somewhat  infelicitous :  its  principles  somewhat  un- 
certain. But  it  signified  opposition  to  the  Catholic 
claims,  and  the  maintenance  of  the  Protestant  ascend- 
ancy. It  prided  itself  on  the  fact  that  it  was  com- 
posed of  "  gentlemen,"  and  that  its  operations  were 
purely  defensive.  In  both  respects  it  laboured  under 
a  disadvantage  well  known  to  those  who  have  had 
anything  to  do  with  practical  politics.  For  your 
"  gentleman,"  however  resolute  and  independent  he 
may  be  in  his  individual  capacity,  soon  grows  tired 


196 


Daniel  O'  Connell. 


[1825-18281 


of  wasting  his  time  attending  meetings  and  commit- 
tees. It  is  your  shoemaker,  your  baker,  your  grocer, 
to  whom  such  meetings  come  as  a  form  of  amuse- 
ment that  keep  the  machine  going.  Then  again,  to 
be  always  acting  on  the  defensive  is  in  itself  ineffably 
wearisome,  and  unless  the  stakes  are  very  high  de- 
feat is  a  foregone  conclusion.  So  it  was  with  the 
Brunswick  clubs.  After  a  brief  period  of  activity 
the  attendance  at  them  dwindled  to  nothing,  and 
finally  the  whole  thing  expired  of  inanition. 

Meanwhile  the  Catholic  Association,  in  the  exu- 
berance of  its  newly  discovered  strength,  announced 
its  determination  to  consider  any  member  of  Parlia- 
ment an  enemy  to  Ireland  who  should  support  any 
administration  not  making  emancipation  a  Cabinet 
question.  It  was  to  be  called  upon  to  make  good 
its  determination  at  an  earlier  period  than  it  had 
anticipated  on  passing  the  resolution. 


CHAPTER  X. 

EMANCIPATION. 
1 828-1 829. 

LIKE  Canning's  administration,  that  of  the  Duke 
of  Wellington  was  composed  of  heterogeneous 
elements,  including  both  emancipationists  and 
anti-emancipationists.  The  only  difference  was  that 
whereas  in  Canning's  the  former  had  been  the 
stronger,  in  Wellington's  the  balance  of  power  lay 
with  the  latter.  Emancipation  itself  was  nominally 
left  an  open  question.  In  Ireland,  the  Lord  Lieu- 
tenant, the  Marquis  of  Anglesey,  and  the  Chief 
Secretary,  William  Lamb,  afterwards  Viscount  Mel- 
bourne, were  appointments  of  Canning,  continuing 
to  retain  office  in  the  new  administration.  The 
former  was  regarded  as  neutral  ;  the  latter  as  in- 
clined to  the  side  of  the  Catholics.  In  the  Cabinet 
itself  the  Canningites  were  represented  by  Huskis- 
son,  Secretary  for  the  Colonies,  "  a  pale  copy  of  his 
illustrious  chief,"  together  with  Palmerston,  Grant, 
and  Dudley.  They  were  opposed  by  Wellington, 
Peel,  Aberdeen,  Lyndhurst,  Bathurst,  Goulburn,  and 
Herries.      It    was    hardly    to    be    expected    that    a 

197 


T98  Daniel  O' Connell.  [1828- 

Cabinet  so  composed  would  work  together  harmoni- 
ously ;  but  curiously  enough,  it  was  not  over  the 
Catholic  question  that  the  rupture  occurred.  In 
fact,  on  8th  May,  after  a  three-days'  debate,  the 
House  of  Commons  agreed  by  272  to  260  to  a  reso- 
lution brought  forward  by  Sir  Francis  Burdett  to 
take  the  Catholic  claims  into  consideration,  and 
eleven  days  later  the  House  of  Lords,  on  the  motion 
of  the  Duke  of  Wellington,  consented  to  appoint  a 
committee  to  confer  with  the  Commons  on  the  sub- 
ject. While  the  matter  was  still  under  considera- 
tion —  in  fact,  on  the  very  day  that  the  Lords  had 
agreed  to  Wellington's  motion  —  the  question  of 
transferring  the  East  Retford  franchise  to  Birming- 
ham came  up  for  consideration  before  the  House  of 
Commons.  Huskisson,  who  had  pledged  himself  in 
favour  of  the  proposal,  but  had  been  unable  to  carry 
the  Cabinet  with  him,  found  himself  placed  in  the 
disagreeable  position  either  of  having  to  break  his 
public  pledge  or  of  voting  against  his  colleagues. 
Unable  to  decide,  he  saw  Peel  and  the  rest  vote 
against  the  motion  without  being  able  to  leave  his 
seat.  The  same  evening  he  placed  his  resignation 
in  the  Prime  Minister's  hand,  and  was  not  a  little 
surprised  and  mortified  to  find  it  accepted.  His 
resignation  was  followed  a  few  days  later  by  that  of 
Dudley,  Grant,  Palmerston,  and  Lamb. 

In  the  reconstruction  of  the  administration  that 
thereupon  took  place.  Lord  Francis  Leveson  Gower 
was  appointed  Chief  Secretary  for  Ireland,  and  Vesey 
Fitzgerald  President  of  the  Board  of  Trade,  with  a 
seat  in  the  Cabinet.     Vesey  Fitzgerald  was  M.P.  for 


I 


1829]  Emancipation.  199 

county  Clare:  his  acceptance  of  office  entailed  an 
appeal  to  his  constituents.  The  Association,  as  we 
have  just  seen,  had  entered  a  resolution  on  their  min. 
utes  to  oppose  the  election  of  anyone  who  should 
support  an  administration  not  making  emancipation 
a  Cabinet  question.  The  case  was  clear.  But  would 
the  Association  have  the  courage  to  put  their  resolu- 
tion in  execution  ?  Fitzgerald  —  there  was  no  blink- 
ing the  fact — was  a  formidable  opponent.  The 
scion  of  an  ancient  and  honourable  family,  the  son 
of  a  man  who,  rather  than  vote  for  the  Union,  had 
resigned  his  office  of  Prime  Sergeant,  a  gentleman 
of  engaging  manners,  an  orator  of  no  common  elo- 
quence, a  friend  personally  to  the  Catholics,  it  seemed 
little  short  of  madness  to  think  of  opposing  him. 
On  the  other  hand,  the  Association  had  often  been 
taunted  with  their  paper  resolutions ;  to  decline  the 
contest  at  this  juncture  was  to  incur  disaster  more 
irremediable  than  defeat.  Before,  however,  coming 
to  any  decision,  it  was  determined  to  send  down 
two  members  of  the  Association,  Messrs.  Steele  and 
O'Gorman  Mahon,  the  former  a  Protestant,  to  sound 
the  constituency.  To  their  astonishment  they  found 
the  electors  not  only  willing  but  anxious  to  fight. 
The  difficulty  was  to  find  a  suitable  candidate.  The 
only  possible  one,  Major  Macnamara,  a  personal 
friend  of  Fitzgerald's,  refused  to  allow  himself  to  be 
put  in  nomination.  In  this  dilemma,  Steele  sug- 
gested setting  up  some  parish  clerk  or  grave-digger, 
providing  him  with  a  qualification  out  of  the  Catho- 
lic Rent,  and  returning  him  in  derision  of  the 
Wellington    administration.     Fortunately,    no   such 


200  Daniel  O' Connell.  [i828- 

unheroic  expedient  was  necessary.  Why,  it  was 
suggested,  should  not  O'Connell  himself  be  per- 
suaded to  contest  the  constituency  ? 

The  suggestion  was  made  one  day  by  Sir  David 
Roose,  sometime  High  Sheriff  of  Dublin,  to  a  very 
intimate  friend  of  O'Connell's,  P.  V.  Fitzpatrick,  and 
the  latter,  recalling  to  mind  how  Keogh  had  once 
expressed  an  opinion  that  emancipation  would  never 
be  conceded  until  a  Catholic  was  returned  to  Parlia- 
ment, at  once  hurried  off  to  submit  the  proposal  to 
O'Connell.  Naturally  O'Connell,  who  had  never 
dreamed  of  entering  Parliament,  pooh-poohed  the 
idea.  He  had  no  wish  to  sacrifice  his  profession — 
no  funds  for  the  occasion,  etc. ;  but  Fitzpatrick  would 
take  no  refusal,  and,  giving  currency  to  the  report 
that  O'Connell  was  going  to  stand,  immediately  set 
about  raising  the  sinews  of  war.  In  ten  days  he  had 
collected  ;^28,ooo.  His  enthusiasm  and  energ}'  forced 
a  reluctant  assent  from  O'Connell,  and  two  days 
after,  on  24th  June,  1828,  the  latter  issued  his  address 
to  the  electors  of  county  Clare.  The  address,  a  some- 
what rambling  document,  written  currentc  calamo  in 
the  office  of  the  Evening  Post,  to  the  proprietorship 
of  which  Frederick  Conway  had  now  succeeded  John 
Magee,  called  on  the  electors  of  county  Clare  to 
choose  between  him  and  Vesey  Fitzgerald  — 

"  Choose  between  him  who  has  so  long  cultivated  his 
own  interests  and  one  who  seeks  only  to  advance  yours ; 
choose  between  the  sworn  libeller  of  the  Catholic  faith 
and  one  who  has  devoted  his  early  life  to  your  cause, 
who  has  consumed  his  manhood  in  a  struggle  for  your 
liberties,  and  who  has  ever  lived  and  is  ready  to  die  for 


o'connell,  fitzpatrick,  and  conway  in  the  ofrce  of  the 
"evening  post." 

FROM    THE    PAINTING   BY    HAVERTY   IN   THE   NATIONAL  GALLERY,   DUBLIN. 


t829]  Emancipation.  201 

the  integrity,   the   honour,  the   purity  of   the  Catholic 
faith,  and  the  promotion  of  Irish  freedom  and  happiness." 

They  were  not  to  be  misled  by  the  statement  that 
he  was  not  qualified  to  be  elected.  He  was  qualified 
to  be  elected  and  to  represent  them.  It  was  true 
that,  as  a  Catholic,  he  could  not,  and  of  course  never 
would,  take  the  oath  prescribed  to  members  of  Par- 
liament ;  but  the  authority  which  had  created  those 
oaths — the  Parliament — could  abrogate  them,  and  he 
was  confident  that,  if  elected,  the  most  bigoted  of 
their  enemies  would  see  the  necessity  of  removing 
from  the  chosen  representative  of  the  people  an  ob- 
stacle which  would  prevent  him  from  doing  his  duty 
to  his  king  and  to  his  country.  Should  he  be  re- 
turned he  pledged  himself  to  vote  for  every  measure 
favourable  to  radical  reform  "  so  that  the  House  of 
Commons  may  truly,  as  our  Catholic  ancestors  in- 
tended it  should  do,  represent  the  people  "  ;  for  the 
repeal  of  the  Vestry  Bill,  the  Subletting  Act  and  the 
grand  jury  laws;  for  the  diminution  and  more  equal 
distribution  of  the  overgrown  wealth  of  the  Estab- 
hshed  Church  in  Ireland,  so  that  the  surplus  may  be 
restored  to  the  sustentation  of  the  poor,  the  aged, 
and  the  infirm ;  for  every  measure  of  retrenchment 
and  reduction  of  the  national  expenditure ;  and 
finally  he  pledged  himself  to  bring  the  question  of 
the  repeal  of  the  Union,  at  the  earliest  possible 
period,  before  the  consideration  of  the  Legislature. 

The  announcement  of  his  determination  to  con- 
test county  Clare  caused  a  tremendous  sensation, 
not  unmixed  with  a  feeling  of  dread    lest    he   was 


202  Daniel  O'Connell. 


[1828- 


imperilling  the  whole  situation.  "  O'Connell,"  wrote 
the  Lord  Lieutenant,  "  finds  himself  so  much  opposed 
by  some  of  the  most  respectable  of  the  bishops,  and 
by  many  of  the  lower  clergy  also,  that  he  is  quite 
wild."  But  the  benediction  of  the  Bishop  of  Kildare 
and  Leighlin  rested  on  him,  and  having  that  he  was 
satisfied. 

"  It  is,"  wrote  Bishop  Doyle,  *'  when  difficulties  press 
on  us  that  we  should  increase  our  exertions,  and  exhibit 
in  our  conduct  that  decision  which  is  the  harbinger  of 
success.  I  am  unable  and  unwilling  to  calculate  the 
consequences  which  must  result  from  your  contest  with 
Mr,  Vesey  Fitzgerald,  but  I  am  satisfied  these  conse- 
quences will  be  as  useful  as  they  must  be  important  if 
the  lovers  of  civil  and  religious  liberty  in  Clare  do  their 
duty  to  the  sacred  cause  to  which  you  have  devoted 
anew  your  time,  your  talents,  your  fortune,  and  your  life. 
Farewell,  my  dear  friend,  may  the  God  of  truth  and 
justice  protect  and  prosper  you." 

A  day  or  two  afterwards  he  set  out  for  Ennis.  A 
considerable  crowd  collected  at  the  Four  Courts  to 
see  him  off,  and  all  along  the  way  he  was  greeted 
with  signs  of  popular  enthusiasm  which  could  hardly 
have  been  more  pronounced  had  he  been  returning 
victorious  instead  of  going  to  fight  what  to  many 
seemed  a  desperate  battle.  As  he  approached  his 
destination,  the  obstruction  grew  so  great,  the  stop- 
pages so  frequent,  that  it  was  not  till  two  o'clock  in 
the  morning  of  the  nomination  day  that  he  reached 
Ennis.  The  nominations  over,  the  day  at  last  dawned 
which  was  to  witness  the  beginning  of  the  contest 


1829]  Emancipation.  203 

on  which  so  many  hopes  depended.  It  was  Monday, 
the  30th  of  June,  when  the  election  began.  From  an 
early  hour  in  the  morning  the  little  town  was  alive 
with  county  voters,  many  of  them  accompanied  by 
their  wives  and  children,  to  the  number,  it  was  calcul- 
ated, of  thirty  thousand.  The  rain  was  falling  heav- 
ily, but  the  greatest  good  humour  prevailed  amongst 
them,  as  they  quietly  and  orderly  took  possession, 
each  parish  by  itself,  of  the  booths  assigned  to  them 
in  the  open  streets  or  in  the  adjacent  meadows.  In 
apprehension  of  a  riot,  the  Lord  Lieutenant  had 
massed  troops  in  the  neighbourhood.  Three  hun- 
dred  policemen  had  been  drafted  into  the  town  itself. 
But  not  a  single  soldier — not  a  single  policeman — was 
required  to  preserve  order,  although  the  excitement 
was  at  fever  pitch.  It  was  an  extraordinary  specta- 
cle. Each  day  at  stated  intervals  milk,  potatoes,  and 
oatmeal  were  served  out  by  the  priests  to  their  re- 
spective parishioners.  Not  a  drop  of  spirituous  liquor 
passed  their  lips  the  whole  time.  What  a  degree  of 
moral  restraint  that  in  itself  implied  almost  passes 
belief  when  one  remembers  how  prone  the  Irish  were 
to  faction  fights,  and  that  the  reputation  of  county 
Clare  in  that  respect  was  second  only  to  that  of  Tip- 
perary.  It  was  as  if,  conscious  that  the  eyes  of  the 
whole  nation  were  fixed  upon  them,  they  had  re- 
gistered a  vow  to  do  their  duty  manfully  and  unself- 
ishly, and  to  show  themselves  worthy  of  the  liberty 
for  which  they  were  fighting.  Their  victory  was  un- 
sullied by  a  single  breach  of  the  peace,  and  it  was  a 
victory  such  as  no  one  had  dreamed  of.  O'Connell 
had  done  them  the  honour  to  solicit  their  suffrages  : 


204  Daniel  O'  Connell.  n828- 

they  showed  themselves  worthy  of  the  honour  he  had 
conferred  on  them.  Men  who  had  entered  the  town 
subservient  to  the  will  of  their  masters  broke  away 
from  them  when  they  reached  the  polling  booth.  The 
landlords  were  beside  themselves  with  rage.  One  of 
them,  Hickman  by  name,  swore  to  O'Connell  that  if 
he  canvassed  a  single  one  of  his  tenants  he  would 
shoot  him  dead.  O'Connell  replied  by  canvassing 
everyone  of  them.  That  day  the  priest  was  mightier 
than  the  landlord.  A  "word — a  look — sufficed,  and 
another  vote  was  registered  for  O'Connell.  Com- 
plaints were  raised  of  sacerdotal  tyranny  ;  but  those 
who  complained  forgot  that  if  it  was  a  tyranny  it  was 
one  of  the  peasants'  own  choosing.  The  fact  was,  the 
election  wore  the  aspect  of  a  religious  ceremony. 
The  Covenanter  standing  up  against  Claverhouse's 
dragoons  at  Both  well  Brig  commands  our  wonder: 
is  the  half-starved  peasant  defying  his  landlord 
at  Ennis  less  worthy  of  admiration  ?  To  both  the 
object  was  the  same — religious  and  civil  freedom. 
The  minister  of  the  Kirk,  the  priest  of  the  Church, 
both  were  redolent  of  the  soil ;  peasants  for  the 
most  part,  both  of  them.  During  the  election  a 
forty-shilling  freeholder  faltered  in  the  path  of  duty 
and  voted  for  Fitzgerald.  A  priest  announced  the 
fact  to  his  audience,  and  a  cry  of  anger  burst  from 
their  lips.  **  Silence !  "  exclaimed  the  priest ;  "  kneel 
down  and  pray  for  his  soul.  The  man  died  last 
night."  Under  similar  circumstances,  might  not 
words  of  similar  import  have  been  spoken  by  a 
follower  of  John  Knox — by  a  Peden  or  a  Cameron  ? 
As  at  Waterford,  the  first  day's  polling  practically 


1829]  Emancipation.  205 

decided  the  contest ;  by  the  end  of  the  second  day 
the  only  question  was  how  great  O'Connell's  majority 
would  be.  On  Saturday  Fitzgerald  withdrew  from 
the  struggle.  He  had  polled  all  the  gentry  and  all 
the  £^0  freeholders  ;  but  the  majority  against  him 
was  1075,  more  than  two  to  one.  Announcing  his 
defeat  to  Peel  he  wrote, "  The  election,  thank  God, 
is  over,  and  I  do  feel  happy  in  its  being  terminated, 
notwithstanding  its  result.  .  .  .  All  the  great 
interests  broke  down,  and  the  desertion  has  been 
universal.  Such  a  scene  as  we  have  had  !  Such  a 
tremendous  prospect  as  it  opens  to  us  !  "  The 
Sheriff,  leaving  the  House  of  Commons  to  decide 
the  knotty  point  whether  as  a  Catholic  O'Connell 
could  take  his  seat,  announced  that  he  had  been  duly 
elected  M.P.  for  the  county  of  Clare.  The  battle 
had  been  fought  and  won  —  not  by  the  individual 
efforts  of  one  man,  but  by  the  united  exertions  of 
the  forty-shilling  freeholders.  But  for  this  result 
one  man  alone  was  responsible.  That  O'Connell 
was  a  duly  elected  member  of  Parliament  was  the 
fruit  of  his  long  years  of  patient  toil  and  unselfish 
devotion  to  the  Catholic  cause.  It  was  the  symbol 
of  the  revolution  which  he  had  by  his  own  unaided 
exertions  brought  to  pass  in  Ireland.  The  joy  of 
the  Catholics  was  unbounded.  They  insisted  on 
chairing  him  through  Ennis,  and  when  he  left  the 
town  they  escorted  him,  each  with  a  green  bough  in 
his  hand,  to  the  confines  of  the  county.  The  en- 
thusiasm communicated  itself  to  the  soldiery,  and 
unmindful  of  military  decorum  they  cheered  the  pro- 
cession as  it  defiled  before  them,  one  young  sergeant 


2o6  Daniel  O'  Connell.  [1828- 

in  his  ardour  even  quitting  the  ranks  to  grasp  the  M; 
Liberator's  hand  for  a  moment.  As  the  procession-  ■ 
ists  approached  Limerick,  and  while  they  were  still 
five  miles  from  the  city,  they  were  met  by  an  im- 
mense concourse  of  men,  women,  and  children.  It 
seemed  as  if  the  entire  city  had  come  out  to  welcome 
the  victor,  and  as  they  passed  the  stone  on  which 
the  broken  treaty  of  Limerick  had  been  signed  the 
cheers  of  fifty  thousand  voices  rent  the  air  in  jubila- 
tion for  the  first  Catholic  returned  to  Parliament 
since  its  violation.  All  the  way  to  Dublin  he  was 
grreeted  with  similar  manifestations  of  rejoicing,  and, 
though  he  travelled  principally  by  night,  he  found 
the  inhabitants  of  each  town  assembled  before  their 
chapels  to  greet  his  arrival  with  bonfires  and  other 
demonstrations  of  public  joy. 

One  of  his  first  acts  after  his  election  had  been  to 
use  his  privilege  as  M.P.  to  frank  letters,  and  it  was 
through  them  that  people  in  Dublin  were  first  made 
acquainted  with  his  success.  But  would  he  be 
allowed  to  take  his  seat  ?  That  was  the  question  on 
everybody's  lips.  During  the  election  he  had  made 
the  astounding  discovery  that  there  was  nothing  to 
prevent  a  Catholic  sitting  in  Parliament.  The  an- 
nouncement of  his  discovery  staggered  everybody. 
What,  it  was  asked,  had  all  the  bother  about  eman- 
cipation been  if  no  restrictions  ever  existed  ?  The 
fact  was  O'Connell  had  actually  hit  on  an  ambiguity 
in  the  Act  of  Union  ;  but  the  common-sense  con- 
struction of  the  words  left  little  hope  of  his  being 
able  to  prove  his  contention.  Still  the  ambiguity 
existed,  and  caused  no  little  consternation  among 


1829]  Emancipation.  207 

the  constitutional  authorities  in  England.  Croker 
and  others  talked  nonsense  about  compelling  O'Con- 
nell  to  take  his  seat,  and  then,  upon  his  declining  to 
take  the  oaths,  to  declare  his  seat  void  and  issue  a 
new  writ.  But  O'Connell  was  anxious  to  see  what 
effect  his  election  would  have  on  the  general  question 
before  imperilling  his  position,  and  the  session  came 
to  an  end  without  any  attempt  on  his  part  to  claim 
his  seat. 

His  election  had  given  a  great  impetus  to  the 
movement.  The  week  following  it  the  contributions 
to  the  Rent  amounted  to  £2'jOi\,  and  preparations 
were  made  for  extending  the  experiment  begun  in 
Clare  to  other  Catholic  constituencies.  In  Munster, 
Connaught,  and  Leinster,  the  organisation  of  the 
Catholic  Association  was  fairly  perfect ;  but  it  had 
practically  made  no  progress  in  Ulster.  The  pro- 
vince which  had  headed  the  volunteer  movement, 
which  had  given  birth  to  the  United  Irish  Society, 
which  in  the  days  of  Wolfe  Tone  had  been  the  back- 
bone of  nationalism,  was  now  not  only  apathetic  in 
the  cause,  but  strongly  opposed  to  the  concession 
of  the  Catholic  claims.  Men  spoke  of  the  "  Black 
North,"  and  wondered  at  the  incomprehensible 
change  that  had  taken  place.  But  there  was  no- 
thing really  very  incomprehensible  in  it.  A  careful 
perusal  of  Wolfe  Tone's  Memoirs  will  help  to  throw 
considerable  light  on  the  subject.  But  if  one  would 
thoroughly  understand  the  position  of  Ulster  in 
Irish  politics  in  the  nineteenth  century  one  must  go 
back  to  the  days  of  the  plantation  under  James  I. 
This  is  hardly  the  place  for  a  full  discussion  of  the 


2o8  Daniel  O'  Connell.  [1828- 

subject,  but  a  few  remarks  may  help  to  throw  some 
light  on  a  problem  that  baffled  O'Connell's  efforts  to 
solve.  Ulster,  with  the  possible  exception  of  county 
Monaghan,  is  essentially  a  Scottish  settlement  —  in 
customs,  language,  religion,  and  national  feeling. 
The  lines  of  its  history  follow  on  those  of  Scotland 
rather  than  on  those  of  England.  Instead  of  be- 
coming assimilated  to  the  bulk  of  the  population  as 
the  English  in  Leinster  and  Munster,  the  Scottish 
settlers  in  Ulster,  and  their  descendants,  have  always 
maintained  their  native  indiv^iduality.  The  fact  was 
recognisable  in  the  seventeenth  centur>- :  it  is  recog- 
nisable at  the  present  moment.  It  was  a  stumbling- 
block  to  Strafford,  to  Cromwell,  to  O'Connell, —  to 
English  Churchman,  English  Nonconformist,  and 
Irish  Catholic  alike, —  to  the  three  greatest  men 
Ireland  has  ever  known. 

To  speak  of  Ulster  as  the  "  Black  North,"  if  by 
"  black "  is  meant  unenlightened,  is  a  misuse  of 
words.  Scotland  —  meaning  always  the  Lowlands  — 
since  its  great  awakening  in  the  sixteenth  century 
cannot  be  called  an  unenlightened  nation.  Stub- 
bom,  pertinacious  in  sticking  to  its  view  of  the  truth, 
illiberal  in  the  application  of  its  principles,  it  may 
be ;  but  in  steadfastness,  honesty,  and  intellectual 
acquirements  it  holds  a  first  place  among  nations. 
Having  settled  its  destiny  by  one  great  national  effort, 
it  has  since  steadily  pursued  the  even  tenor  of  its 
way.  Its  people,  apart  from  its  metaphysicians,  are 
a  canny,  douce  sort  of  folk,  unfond  of  experiments 
touching  the  ordinary  conditions  of  life.  In  England 
two  and  two  has  sometimes  meant  five  :  in  Scotland 


1829]  Emancipation.  209 

never.  Hence,  while  England,  with  a  chequered 
career,  has  always  led  the  van  of  political  and  social 
progress,  Scotland  has  kept  quietly  by  her  old  ways 
until  convinced  that  change  meant  progress  and  not 
retrogression.  What  Scotland  has  been  to  England, 
Ulster  has  in  a  measure  been  to  the  rest  of  Ireland. 
Even  the  execrable  government  of  her  Westmore- 
lands,  her  Camdens,  and  her  Clares  could  hardly 
disturb  her  equanimity.  A  few  adventurous  souls 
rushed  into  the  conflict ;  but  Ulster  herself  was  glad 
when  the  Union  put  an  end  to  the  turmoil,  and  let 
her  get  on  with  her  work.  Unimaginative,  indus- 
trious, liberal  within  certain  limits,  and  self-reliant, 
all  she  asked  for  was  to  be  let  alone.  True,  she  had 
her  own  grievances,  but  these  would  right  themselves 
in  time.  Meanwhile  Ulster  was  n't  Turkey.  People 
could  grow  rich,  stick  by  their  old  faiths,  and  die 
quietly  like  rational  creatures.  She  was  a  little  bit 
of  Scotland  and  felt  herself  more  Scotch  than  Irish. 
For  her,  Connaught  and  Munster  were  as  much  for- 
eign as  England  was.  Had  emancipation  been  con- 
ceded when  the  Act  of  Union  was  carried  all  would 
have  been  well.  Even  the  Orange  Society,  that 
monstrous  engine  of  oppression,  was  in  its  first  in- 
ception a  means  of  protection  rather  than  a  weapon 
of  aggression.  The  mischief  was  that  Government 
mixed  itself  in  the  business,  and,  using  it  for  its  own 
purposes,  gave  it  an  influence  and  a  significance  which 
by  itself  it  would  never  have  possessed. 

Naturally,  therefore,  when  the  Association  an- 
nounced its  determination  to  extend  its  propaganda 
within  the  sacred  limits  of  the  northern  province  the 


2IO  Daniel  O'Connell.  [1828- 

announcement  caused  no  little  ferment  amongst 
Ulstermen.  And  it  was,  accordingly,  in  no  very 
good  humour  that  the  good  citizens  of  Derry  col- 
lected, early  in  August,  to  listen  to  a  political  address 
from  their  representative  in  Parliament,  Colonel 
Dawson.  George  Dawson,  or  "  Derry  Dawson,"  as 
he  was  better  known,  was  Peel's  brother-in-law.  He 
held  a  subordinate  office  in  the  Wellington  ministry 
and  hitherto  had  been  counted  a  staunch  opponent 
of  Catholic  emancipation.  But  he  was  a  man  of 
candid  mind  and,  as  we  have  seen,  had  openly 
admitted  to  O'Connell  that  his  examination  before 
the  Committee  of  the  House  of  Commons  had 
removed  many  of  his  prejudices.  In  the  interval 
he  had  given  much  thought  to  the  subject,  and  after 
the  Clare  election  he  had  come  to  the  conclusion 
that  further  resistance  to  the  demands  of  the  Catho- 
lics was  not  only  useless  but  senseless.  Having  the 
courage  of  his  opinions,  he  had  called  his  constitu- 
ents together  to  listen  to  his  views  on  the  subject. 
It  was  a  stormy  meeting.  After  listening  incredul- 
ously to  him  a  little  time,  his  audience  no  sooner 
realised  his  meaning  than  groans  and  hisses  inter- 
rupted his  further  progress.  When  he  stated  that, 
in  the  opinion  of  some,  rebellion  was  the  upshot  of 
the  Association,  the  meeting  cheered  him  to  the 
echo :  when  he  proceeded  to  announce  that  such 
was  not  his  belief,  his  words  were  drowned  in  a  storm 
of  hisses.  Matters  improved  somewhat  towards  the 
end,  when  he  uttered  a  serious  warning  to  the  Asso- 
ciation that  Ulstermen  would  resist  even  to  blood- 
shed any  invasion  of  the  province.     But  the  general 


i 


18291  Emancipation.  211 

impression  left  by  his  speech  was  that  Administra- 
tion was  preparing  to  capitulate  to  the  Catholics. 

His  warning  was  despised,  and  a  few  days  after- 
wards John  Lawless,  commissioned  by  the  Associa- 
tion, prepared  to  invade  Ulster.  It  was  a  hazardous 
experiment  and  the  instrument  chosen  was  about  as 
incompetent  for  the  delicate  task  entrusted  to  him 
as  could  well  have  been  found.  Rash  and  head- 
strong, the  chances  were  ten  to  one  that  if  he  per- 
sisted in  his  attempt  he  would  cause  serious  trouble 
in  the  north.  Nevertheless  O'Connell  had  convinced 
himself  that  the  experiment  was  one  worth  making. 
For  himself  he  did  not  believe  that  there  was  any- 
thing but  bluster  in  Dawson's  threat.  "  The  mission 
of  Mr.  Lawless,"  he  wrote  to  the  Secretary  of  the 
Association  in  a  letter  intended  for  the  public, 

"  is,  in  my  opinion,  one  of  the  greatest  importance,  and 
the  entire  country  anxiously  expects  the  details  of  his 
progress.  ...  I  am  at  present  more  anxious 
about  him,  because  of  a  ludicrous  threat  which  appears 
to  have  been  thrown  out  against  him  at  the  Derry 
Dinner.  .  .  .  Mr.  Lawless  will,  I  am  sure,  proceed, 
holding  such  threats  in  thorough  contempt — he  will 
actually  organise  the  collection  of  the  Catholic  Rent  in 
as  many  parishes  as  possible  ;  he  will  reconcile  parties  ; 
abolish  secret  societies  and  illegal  oaths  from  amongst 
the  People  ;  soothe  and  allay  the  irritation  caused  by 
illegal  orgies  of  the  Orangemen  ;  and  in  short,  whilst  he 
promotes  constitutional  and  strictly  legal  exertions  for 
national  freedom,  he  will,  I  trust,  restore  to  the  North 
that  tranquillity  and  peace  which  now  so  gloriously  dis- 
tinguishes the  other  three  Provinces  of  Ireland." 


212  Daniel  O'Connell.  [1828- 

But  as  Lawless  neared  the  confines  of  Ulster,  the 
difficulties  and  dangers  of  the  mission  he  had  under- 
taken began  to  strike  him  more  forcibly.  He  had, 
however,  announced  his  intention  of  entering  the 
"  Black  North,"  at  Ballybay,  on  the  borders  of  county 
Monaghan,  and  he  kept  his  word.  On  the  day 
appointed,  and  accompanied,  it  was  said,  by  140,000 
peasants,  some  of  them  with  arms  concealed  under 
their  coats,  he  set  out  for  Ballybay ;  but  as  he 
approached  the  town,  he  found  the  heights  above 
it  occupied  by  from  two  to  three  thousand  resolute 
Orangemen  determined  to  bar  his  progress.  The 
responsibility  was  too  much  for  him,  and  despite 
the  encouraging  shouts  of  his  followers  he  ignomin- 
iously  but  wisely  beat  a  hasty  retreat.  What  the 
consequences  might  have  been  had  he  persisted  it 
is,  says  the  historian  of  the  Association,  not  difficult 
to  conjecture.  "  Ballybay  might  have  been  entered, 
but  a  rebellion  that  night  would  have  commenced 
in  Ireland." 

The  fact  is,  that  at  no  time  since  the  Union  was 
the  state  of  affairs  more  critical  than  it  was  in  the 
month  of  Augfust,  1828.  So  unaccustomed  indeed, 
was  the  mass  of  the  people  to  the  idea  of  con- 
stitutional agitation  that,  notwithstanding  all  O'Con- 
nell's  preaching,  they  confidently  expected  it  was 
only  a  step  to  a  national  rising.  Especially  was  this 
the  case  among  the  peasants  of  Tipperary.  Unfortu- 
nately, too,  O'Connell's  utterances  at  this  time  lent 
considerable  sanction  to  this  perverted  view  of  the 
situation.  About  the  very  time  that  Lawless  in- 
vaded Ulster,  a  great  provincial  meeting  was  held 


1829]  Emancipaizon.  213 

at  Clonmel.  Alluding  to  a  threat  of  armed  resist- 
ance against  the  Association  on  the  part  of  certain 
leading  Orangemen  he  had  exclaimed  : 

"  Would  to  God  that  our  excellent  viceroy,  Lord  An- 
glesey, would  only  give  me  a  commission,  and  if  those 
men  of  blood  should  attempt  to  attack  the  property  and 
persons  of  his  Majesty's  loyal  subjects,  with  a  hundred 
thousand  of  my  brave  Tipperary  boys  I  would  soon 
drive  them  into  the  sea  before  me." 

The  words  were  a  mere  rhetorical  device  delivered 
in  the  heat  of  the  moment ;  but  to  his  audience 
they  conveyed  a  very  different  and  much  more 
sinister  meaning.  After  the  meeting  the  question 
was  frequently  heard,  "  When  will  he  call  us  out?" 
The  answer  as  often  as  not  was  a  finger  on  the  lip, 
and  a  significant  smile  and  wink.  Many  of  the 
peasants,  too,  had  arms  concealed  near  their  cottages 
in  bogs  and  recesses  in  the  mountains.  Believing 
that  they  had  the  encouragement  of  their  leaders 
and  that  Government  was  actually  on  their  side,  it 
was  not  long  before  they  proceeded  from  words  to 
deeds.  Meetings  multiplied  and  there  was  much 
marching  to  and  fro  with  banners.  An  insult  offered 
to  a  priest  by  a  policeman  during  one  of  their  pro- 
cessions was  avenged  in  the  most  approved  style. 
Within  a  few  hours  afterwards  the  barracks  went 
up  in  flames.  Consternation  seized  the  local  authori- 
ties, and  application  was  at  once  made  to  the  Asso- 
ciation to  interfere  in  the  interests  of  peace. 

O'Connell,    little   dreaming   of    the    mischief    his 
words    had    caused,   had    gone    to    Darrynane ;   but 


214  Dajiicl  O'Connell.  [1828- 

Sheil  was  in  Dublin  and  he  acted  with  commendable 
promptitude.  On  25th  September  he  addressed  the 
Association  on  the  subject.  The  Government,  by 
allowing  the  Catholic  question  to  convulse  the 
country  and  by  not  interposing  for  its  adjustment, 
had,  he  averred,  caused  the  mind  of  Ireland  to 
be  infuriated  to  such  a  point  that  any  unfortunate 
contingency  might  throw  the  country  into  a  con- 
vulsion. The  oldest  man  who  heard  him  did  not 
remember  the  time  when  national  passion  ran  so 
high.  For  himself,  he  was  at  a  loss  to  see  any 
benefit  to  be  derived  from  the  meetings  and  march- 
ings to  which  so  much  anxious  attention  had  been 
lately  directed,  beyond  the  evidence  which  they 
afforded  of  the  colossal  power  of  the  people ;  and 
of  that  amazing  strength  he  thought  that  there  had 
been  perhaps  proof  enough  given.  It  was  excellent 
to  have  a  giant's  strength,  but  it  was  rash  to  use  it 
after  that  gigantic  fashion.  Let  them  rather  show 
the  Marquis  of  Anglesey  that  Ireland  could  be 
governed  upon  different  principles ;  let  them  show 
him  what  a  wise  government  could  be,  by  perform- 
ing the  part  of  a  wise  government  themselves,  and 
prove  with  what  facility  Irishmen  could  be  con- 
trolled. 

Before  the  meeting  separated  resolutions  were 
passed  dissuading  the  people  from  holding  tumult- 
uous assemblies  and  inviting  O'Connell  "  to  em- 
ploy his  powerful  and  deserved  authority  '*  to  the 
same  end.  O'Connell's  address  appeared  on  30th 
September.  Next  day  a  Government  proclamation 
forbidding  such  assemblages  was  published.     It  was 


1829]  Emancipation.  215 

hardly  needed.  The  peasantry  had  yielded  instant 
obedience  to  the  order  of  the  Association  backed  by 
the  authority  of  O'Connell,  and  all  danger  of  an  in- 
surrection was  practically  over.  For  this  result  the 
wise  forbearance  of  the  Marquis  of  Anglesey's  Gov- 
ernment was  largely  responsible.  Already,  in  April, 
he  had  given  it  as  his  opinion  that  the  only  way  to 
restore  peace  was  "  by  taking  Messrs.  O'Connell  and 
Shell  from  the  Association  and  placing  them  in  the 
House  of  Commons."  He  had  viewed  with  sym- 
pathy, if  he  did  not  actually  suggest,  the  idea  of 
O'Connell  contesting  County  Clare,  and  during  the 
autumn  he  had  anxiously  expected  some  sign  of 
concession  on  the  part  of  Administration,  which 
never  came.  Even  when  the  situation  grew  critical 
he  had  acted  with  the  utmost  moderation,  relying, 
and  not  without  reason,  on  the  good  sense  of  the 
Association.  His  letters,  while  they  faithfully  de- 
picted the  danger  of  procrastination,  were  studiously 
calm,  and  gave  no  sanction  to  measures  of  a  repress- 
ive character. 

"  It  seems,"  he  wrote  on  8th  September,  "  agreed  that  the 
public  feeling  was  never  at  so  high  a  pitch  of  excitement 
as  at  the  present  time.  The  language  of  both  parties  is 
violent  in  the  extreme,  and  both  appear  ripe  for  action. 
The  organisation  of  the  Catholics  is  very  complete. 
.  .  .  The  speakers  continue  to  be  inflammatory.  Ex- 
pressions might  possibly  be  noted  that  would  admit  of 
prosecution  ;  but  in  general  the  language  is  nicely  meas- 
ured, and  so  equivocal  as  to  admit  of  an  explanation  that 
might  be  strained  into  an  excess  of  loyalty  and  a  nervous 
warning  to  the  State  of  the  danger  to  which  it  is  exposed. 


2i6  Daniel  O^Conneii. 


C1828- 


.  .  .  The  Brunswickers  are  rivalling  the  Association 
in  violence  and  in  Rent.  Two  Associations  and  two 
Rents  are  rather  formidable.  The  Brunswick  establish- 
ment is  not  very  flattering  to  the  king  or  his  ministers,  or 
to  the  army  —  since  it  deems  it  necessary  to  take  the 
whole  under  its  especial  protection.  This  is  a  most  dis- 
tressing state  of  things,  and  I  defy  anyone  to  pro- 
nounce upon  the  result ;  but  this  I  know,  that  things 
must  not  remain  long  as  they  are.  I  cannot  see  far  be- 
fore me.  I  can  only  guess  at  what  is  likely  to  happen 
for  a  few  months.  I  calculate  upon  a  quiet  winter  in 
acts  ;  but  not  in  language.  I  ground  my  opinion  upon 
this — the  Catholics  are  persuaded  the  Brunswickers  will 
bring  on  a  collision  if  they  can,  with  the  view  of  com- 
mitting the  Government  against  them.  This  is  what  the 
leaders  will  endeavour  to  avoid,  and  with  the  power  they 
possess  over  the  minds  of  the  multitude  possibly  they 
may  succeed  ;  and  then  there  will  be  probably  even  less 
crime  and  nightly  outrage  than  has  been  usual.  Even 
if  there  be  any  project  of  insurrection,  which  I  do  not 
believe,  the  winter  would  not  be  the  chosen  season.  I 
can  imagine  nothing  less  inviting  than  a  rebel  bivouac 
during  a  long,  dreary  winter's  night  Therefore  it  ap- 
pears to  me  probable  that  you  will  have  time  to  legislate 
before  we  begin  to  fight." 

Instead  of  legislation,  or  an  intimation  that  legis- 
lation was  intended,  came  troops.  "  I  must  say," 
he  wrote  to  the  Duke  of  Wellington  on  6th  Novem- 
ber, not  without  a  touch  of  sarcasm,  "  you  certainly 
do  not  do  things  by  halves.  Why,  you  have  placed 
at  my  disposal  troops  enough  to  control  the  Bruns- 
wickers and  the  Association,  even  if  they  should 
coalesce  and  combine  to  make  war  upon  me."      But 


I 


1829]  Emancipation.  217 

in  fact  the  situation  was  by  no  means  so  simpler 
as  Anglesey  imagined  it  to  be.  Himself  a  plain,' 
straightforward  soldier,  and  no  politician,  he  could] 
see  only  one  solution  to  the  difficulty — emancipa- 
tion. No  doubt  he  was  right.  But  for  Wellington 
and  Peel  there  were  other  considerations  to  be  taken 
into  account.  Not  only  had  they  to  overcome  their 
own  reluctance  to  a  step  which  they  had  hitherto 
consistently  opposed ;  but  there  was  the  King  to  be 
considered,  and  his  scruples  were  as  strong  as  ever. 
Consequently,  Anglesey's  advocacy  of  concession 
served  rather  to  irritate  than  to  conciliate  them. 
The  King  indeed  was  so  angry  at  what  he  regarded 
as  a  piece  of  treachery  that  in  August  he  urged 
Wellington  to  recall  him.  But  the  latter,  fearing 
that  such  a  step  would  aggravate  the  situation,  de- 
clined to  countenance  the  suggestion.  So  matters 
went  on  till  November,  each  day  bringing  some  fresh 
ground  of  friction  between  ministers  and  the  Irish 
government.  In  vain  did  Wellington  try  to  make 
up  his  mind  as  to  the  proper  course  to  pursue.  On 
i6th  November  he  suggested  to  the  King  the  de- 
sirability of  yielding.  The  danger  of  delay  he  in- 
sisted was  very  great.  But  the  King  was  obstinate. 
The  Prime  Minister  was  at  his  wits'  end.  He  could 
see  no  prospect  of  an  immediate  settlement,  so  he 
wrote  in  answer  to  a  letter  from  his  old  acquaint- 
ance, Dr.  Curtis,  the  Catholic  Archbisop  of  Armagh, 
unless  the  question  was  buried  for  a  time  and  the 
interval  employed  in  diligently  considering  the  diffi- 
culties besetting  the  question.  Archbishop  Curtis 
transmitted  his  letter  to  the  Lord  Lieutenant,  and 


2i8  Daniel  O^Connell.  [1828- 

in  acknowledging  it  Anglesey  admitted  that  he  had 
the  misfortune  to  differ  in  his  opinion  from  the 
Duke.  He  saw  no  possibility  of  burying  the  ques- 
tion, nor  advantage  likely  to  follow  from  the  attempt. 
On  the  contrary,  he  advised  the  Catholics  not  to  lose 
sight  of  the  measure  for  one  moment,  but  to  press  it 
forward  by  every  constitutional  means  in  their 
power.  The  question  was  one  for  the  Legislature 
to  decide,  and  his  greatest  anxiety  was  that  it  should 
be  met  by  the  Parliament  under  the  most  favourable 
circumstances,  and  that  the  opposers  of  Catholic 
emancipation  should  be  disarmed  by  the  patient  for- 
bearance, as  well  as  by  the  unwearied  perseverance, 
of  its  advocates. 

The  publication  of  Wellington's  letter  and  Angle- 
sey's reply  brought  matters  to  a  crisis.  A  week  af- 
terwards the  latter  was  recalled.  When  the  fact 
became  known,  addresses  of  sympathy  flowed  in 
upon  him  from  all  sides.  Never  since  the  recall  of 
Earl  Fitzwilliam  had  Ireland  been  so  profoundly 
moved  as  on  the  day  when  he  bade  farewell  to  them. 
With  a  modesty  and  self-restraint  that  became  him 
well,  and  added  dignity  to  his  withdrawal,  he  re- 
frained from  making  any  parade  of  the  chagrin  he 
doubtless  felt,  and  from  increasing  the  difficulties  of 
Administration  by  countenancing  any  public  demon- 
stration in  his  favour.  But  the  people  were  not  to 
be  denied  the  melancholy  pleasure  of  testifying  to 
the  grief  they  felt  at  his  departure,  and  when  Angle- 
sey quitted  Dublin  the  road,  all  the  way  to  Kings- 
town, where  he  was  to  embark,  was  lined  with 
citizens  whose  sad  demeanour  bore  witness  to  the 


1829]  Emancipation.  219 

sorrow  with  which  they  parted  from  him.  Here 
and  there,  one  saw  flags  with  sentences  from  his 
now  famous  letter  inscribed  on  them,  and  as  he  rode 
silently  and  bareheaded  through  their  midst  men's 
thoughts  instinctively  turned  to  Fitzwilliam.  Would 
the  same  results  follow  from  Anglesey's  recall? 
Would  the  agitation  be  once  more  stamped  out  in 
blood  ?  So  at  least  the  Orangemen  construed  the 
action  of  the  Government.  Their  satisfaction  knew 
no  bounds,  and  they  openly  proclaimed  that  secret 
alliance  between  the  Crown  and  themselves  of  which 
they  had  hitherto  boasted  in  private.  Their  view 
of  the  situation  was  shared  by  the  Catholics.  But 
whatever  their  fears,  their  actions  displayed  no 
timidity.  They  remembered  Anglesey's  parting  ad- 
vice to  them,  and  determined  at  all  hazards  not  to 
lose  sight  of  emancipation  for  one  moment. 

That  the  King  would  have  felt  no  hesitation  in 
throwing  the  sword  into  the  balance,  and  by  every 
means  in  his  power  supporting  the  Orangemen  and 
Brunswickers,  even  at  the  risk  of  a  civil  war,  is  ex- 
tremely probable.  But  neither  Wellington  nor  Peel 
was  prepared  to  go  to  these  extreme  lengths.  The 
time,  they  felt,  had  come  when  emancipation  in  some 
shape  or  form  must  be  conceded.  The  danger  of 
procrastination  was  too  great  to  be  encountered. 
Moreover,  it  was  doubtful  if  the  army,  in  which  so 
many  Catholics  were  incorporated,  would  stand  the 
strain  which  the  policy  advocated  by  the  King  would 
place  upon  it.  "  There  are,"  said  a  soldier  in  the  2ist 
Fusileers,  a  nominally  Scottish  regiment,  "  two  ways 
of  firing — at  a  man  and  over  a  man  ;    and  if  we  were 


220  Daniel  O'Connell.  [1828- 

called  out  against  O'Connell  and  our  country,  I 
think  we  should  know  the  difference."  In  fact,  An- 
glesey's recall,  as  events  proved,  instead  of  being  a 
sign  that  Administration  was  resolved  to  stick  to  its 
guns,  was  the  first  step  towards  capitulation.  But 
the  secret  was  so  well  kept  that  it  was  not  till  the 
very  eve  of  the  meeting  of  Parliament,  on  6th 
February,  1829,  that  any  token  of  their  intention 
was  given. 

The  day  before,  O'Connell,  who  was  preparing  to 
leave  for  London,  addressed  the  Association  for  the 
last  time.  Alluding  to  the  rumour  which  had 
reached  him,  he  moved  that  on  the  day  emancipation 
received  the  royal  assent  the  Association  should  be 
^  dissolved. 

"  But,"  he  added  significantly,  "  nothing  less  than  un- 
conditional emancipation  will  satisfy  us  :  and  although 
we  would  not  refuse  an  instalment  of  seven  shillings  and 
sixpence  given  us  unconditionally,  we  should  not  lose 
sight  of  the  remainder  of  the  debt.  .  .  .  Until  re- 
ligious liberty  is  established  in  Ireland  the  labours 
of  the  Association  shall  continue  ;  the  moment  there 
shall  be  a  repeal  of  oppressive  laws  on  account  of  relig- 
ion, the  Association  shall  be  extinguished,  and  Catho- 
lics shall  mingle  indiscriminately  with  the  rest  of  their 
fellow-citizens.  But  the  attention  to  national  interests 
»  .  .  which  has  been  generated  by  an  all-absorbing  and 
lengthened  controversy,  shall  still  survive  ;  and  although 
by  the  abolition  of  distinctions,  on  account  of  religion. 
Catholics  shall  no  more  be  heard  of  as  separate  political 
advocates,  that  spirit  has  grown  up  amongst  the  people 
which  shall  inspire  them  to  new  and  glorious  efforts  of 


1829]  Emancipation.  221 

patriotism,   until  Ireland  shall  become  what  God  and 
nature  intended  her  to  be." 

Next  day  he  left  Dublin,  and  arriving  in  London 
on  the  i6th,  accompanied  by  Messrs.  O'Gorman, 
Bellew,  O'Gorman  Mahon,  and  Steele,  took  up  his 
quarters  at  Bett's  Hotel  in  Dover  Street.  The  jour- 
ney had  not  been  without  some  personal  danger  to 
himself.  Anti-popery  feeling  ran  very  strong  in  the 
counties  through  which  he  had  to  travel ;  at  Shrews- 
bury his  carriage  broke  down,  and  in  the  chief  towns, 
particularly  in  Coventry,  he  was  greeted  with  menac- 
ing shouts  of  "  No  Popery ! "  and  "  Down  with  O'Con- 
nell !  "  The  Speech  from  the  Throne  had  answered 
the  expectations  created  by  the  rumour  of  the  inten- 
tions of  Government.  The  Association  was  to  be 
suppressed ;  but  its  suppression  was  to  be  followed 
by  a  measure  of  Catholic  relief.  The  Bill  for  the  sup- 
pression of  the  Association  was  introduced  by  Peel 
on  the  very  day  O'Connell  arrived  in  London.  Be- 
ing limited  in  its  operation  to  twelve  months  it 
encountered  little  opposition  in  Parliament  even  from 
the  friends  of  the  Catholics,  by  whom  it  was  regarded 
as  a  necessary  preliminary  to  the  measure  of  pacifi- 
cation intended  to  be  immediately  brought  forward 
by  Government  ;  and  on  5th  March  it  received  the 
royal  assent.  By  that  time  the  Association  had 
ceased  to  exist.  Its  dissolution,  however,  had  not 
been  accomplished  without  some  little  friction  among 
the  leaders  of  the  Catholics.  O'Connell,  who  had 
made  emancipation,  actual  and  real,  a  sine  qua  non, 
had  written  from  Shrewsbury  opposing  that  step. 


22  2  Daniel  O' Coniiell.  [1828- 

"  Ireland,"  he  declared,  "  had  never  yet  confided  but 
she  had  been  betrayed."  His  view  was  opposed  by 
Sheil  and  Lawless,  and  after  a  fierce  debate  the  As- 
sociation agreed  on  I2th  February  to  dissolve.  Its 
last  act  was  to  place  on  record  "  that  we  are  indebted 
to  Daniel  O'Connell,  beyond  all  other  men,  for  its 
original  creation  and  sustainment ;  that  he  is  en- 
titled for  the  achievement  of  its  freedom  to  the  ever- 
lasting gratitude  of  Ireland."  But  it  was  with  a 
feeling  of  almost  parental  sadness  that  O'Connell 
witnessed  a  period  put  to  its  labours.  "  How  mis- 
taken men  are,"  he  wrote,  "  who  suppose  that  the 
history  of  the  world  will  be  over  as  soon  as  we  are 
emancipated  !  Oh  !  tJiat  will  be  the  time  to  commence 
the  struggle  for  popular  rights." 

Meanwhile  he  still  delayed  to  present  himself  for 
admission  into  the  House  of  Commons.  Petitions 
had  been  lodged  against  his  return  on  the  ground  of 
undue  clerical  influence,  and  he  was  moreover  anx- 
ious to  see  what  form  the  Bill  for  Emancipation  would 
take  before  staking  his  chance  on  the  interpretation 
he  placed  on  tlie  Act  of  Union.  On  6th  March  the 
committee  selected  to  try  the  merits  of  the  petitions 
against  him  unanimously  decided  in  his  favour.  The 
previous  day  Peel  submitted  the  Government  scheme 
for  the  removal  of  the  disabilities  attaching  to  Roman 
Catholics  to  the  House  of  Commons.  In  itself  it 
commanded  O'Connell's  entire  approval.  It  was 
"  frank,  direct,  complete,"  containing  no  reference  to 
a  veto  or  other  securities.  "  I  always  said,"  he  wrote 
to  Sugrue,  "  that  when  they  came  to  emancipate 
they  would  not  care  a  bulrush  about  those  vetoistical 


1829]  Emancipation.  223 

arrangements,  which  so  many  paltry  Catholics  from 
time  to  time  pressed  on  me  as  useful  to  emancipa- 
tion." Unfortunately  the  Emancipation  Bill  did  not 
stand  alone.  It  was  accompanied  by  two  supple- 
mentary measures — the  one  to  prevent  the  extension 
of  monastic  institutions  ;  the  other  for  the  disfran- 
chisement of  the  forty-shilling  freeholders.  In  regard 
to  the  former  O'Connell  staked  his  reputation  to  "  run 
a  coach-and-six  three  times  told  "  through  it,  and  as 
a  matter  of  fact  it  was  never  executed  :  as  to  the 
latter,  he  determined  to  offer  every  possible  resist- 
ance in  his  power  to  it.  The  day  following,  7th 
March,  addressing  a  meeting  of  Catholics  in  the 
Thatched  House  Tavern  he  strongly  protested  against 
any  attempt  to  interfere  with  the  elective  franchise. 
The  Catholics,  he  insisted,  were  bound  by  every  tie  of 
gratitude  to  stand  by  and  protect  the  forty-shilling 
freeholders,  and  at  his  suggestion  a  resolution  was 
passed  calling  on  the  Whigs  to  oppose  the  freehold 
wing  at  all  hazards.  But  every  effort  to  prevent  their 
disfranchisement  failed.  It  was,  said  Brougham,  the 
price — the  almost  extravagant  price — of  the  inestim- 
able good  which  would  result  from  the  Relief  Bill. 
On  30th  March  the  Emancipation  Bill  passed  the 
Commons  by  a  majority  of  178  ;  it  was  read  for  a 
third  time  in  the  House  of  Lords  on  loth  April,  and 
on  the  13th  the  royal  assent  was  given  by  commis- 
sion to  it  and  the  Freeholds'  (Ireland)  Regulation  Bill. 
The  victory  had  been  won.  After  twenty-nine 
years  of  stubborn,  obstinate  resistance,  England  had 
consented  to  redeem  Pitt's  pledge,  and  to  pay  the 
price  stipulated  for  the  Union.     That  emancipation 


224  Daniel  O' Connell.  [1828- 

might  have  been  as  easily  conceded  in  1800  as  it 
was  in  1829  hardly  anyone  will  now  venture  to  gain- 
say. But,  had  it  been  conceded  in  1 800,  its  conces- 
sion would  have  altered  the  whole  subsequent  course 
of  Irish  history.  Then  it  would  have  come  as  a  boon 
—  as  a  token  that  England  was  both  able  and  willing 
to  measure  out  equal  justice  to  every  class  and  sect 
in  Ireland.  It  would  have  conciliated  national  feel- 
ing and  have  atoned  for  the  loss  of  the  national  legis- 
lature. Coming,  however,  as  it  did,  not  as  a  free 
gift,  but  as  the  price  paid  to  prevent  a  civil  war,  it 
failed  to  kindle  the  smallest  spark  of  national  grati- 
tude. Twist  the  matter  as  one  may,  it  is  clear  that 
England's  necessity,  and  not  England's  justice,  was 
responsible  for  the  concession.  Her  statesmen  had 
boasted  that  they  would  yield  to  no  compulsion,  and 
yet  two  of  her  strongest  ministers  —  Wellington  and 
Peel — had  so  yielded,  and  that  without  any  further 
reasons  being  adduced  than  had  been  brought  for- 
ward a  quarter  of  a  century  before.  It  is  useless  to 
conceal  the  fact.  Emancipation  was  a  victor}'.  The 
battle  had  lasted  twenty-nine  years,  and  Ireland  had 
conquered.  That  she  had  conquered,  she  owed  to 
the  exertions  of  one  man — to  O'Connell.  Without 
the  stimulus  afforded  by  his  agitation,  the  necessity 
of  yielding  on  the  part  of  England  would  never  have 
arisen.  That  emancipation  must  sooner  or  later 
have  been  conceded,  those  who  believe  in  a  divine  pur- 
pose working  through  the  affairs  of  men  will  find  it 
hard  to  combat.  But  that  it  would  have  come  when 
it  did,  and  without  trammels  of  one  sort  or  another, 
is,  humanly  speaking,  highly  improbable. 


STATUE  OF  O'CONNELL,  CITY    HALL,   DUBLIN. 


1829]  Emancipation.  225 

Naturally,  to  those  who  had  taken  an  active  part- 
in  the  struggle,  the  Act  of  Emancipation  seemed  to 
possess  an  importance  which  intrinsically  did  not  be- 
long to  it.  In  itself  its  value  proved  infinitesimal. 
Neverthess,  O'Connell,  writing  to  Sugrue  on  14th 
April — "  the  first  day  of  Freedom,"  as  he  headed  his 
letter— did  not  exaggerate  when  he  called  it  "  one  of 
the  greatest  triumphs  recorded  in  history  —  a  blood- 
less revolution  more  extensive  in  its  operation  than 
any  other  political  change  that  could  take  place."  It 
was  all  that,  and  the  price  paid  for  it  —  the  disfran- 
chisement of  the  forty-shilling  freeholders  —  was  not 
too  great  for  the  benefits  that  flowed  from  it.  To 
see,  however,  in  the  disfranchisement  of  the  forty- 
shilling  freeholders  the  chief  significance  of  the  Act 
of  Emancipation  is  far  too  limited  a  view  to  take  of 
the  subject.  Ireland  in  1800  was  a  lifeless  log;  in 
1829  it  was  a  living,  sensitive  organism.  The  agita- 
tion for  emancipation  had  wrought  the  change.  In 
1793  the  Irish  Parliament  had  conceded  the  elective 
franchise  to  the  Roman  Catholics,  at  the  same  time 
denying  to  them  the  right  to  sit  in  Parliament.  It 
was,  as  Grattan  then  and  there  pointed  out,  an  egre- 
gious blunder — a  varepov  npotspov  in  politics,  and  a 
premium  placed  on  poverty  and  corruption.  From 
that  date  till  1826  the  forty-shilling  freeholders  were 
a  drag  on  national  progress.  O'Connell's  view  in 
that  respect  was  perfectly  sound.  Then  came  the 
unexpected  awakening,  and  the  revolt  of  the  forty- 
shilling  freeholders.  The  blunder  that  had  been 
committed  in  1793  was  then  transparent.  It  was 
then  evident  that  to  concede  emancipation,  i.  e.,  to 


2  26  Daniel  O'CoiinclI. 


11828- 


allow  to  Catholics  the  right  to  sit  in  Parliament  with- 
out raising  the  electoral  franchise,  was  to  sanction  a 
revolution  in  Ireland  the  consequences  of  which 
could  not  be  foreseen.  For  of  the  ability  of  O'Con- 
nell  to  carry  the  majority  of  seats  at  the  next  ensu- 
ing general  election  there  could  not  be  the  slightest 
question  ;  in  which  case  1829  would  have  anticipated 
1886.  The  fact  was,  the  forty-shilling  freeholders 
were  an  anomaly  in  the  constitution,  and  so  long  as 
the  franchise  in  England  continued  to  be  restricted, 
their  disfranchisement  was  no  injustice  to  Ireland. 
Even  O'Connell,  while  regretting  the  fact  in  itself, 
was  obliged  to  confess  that  the  freehold  wing  was  as 
little  objectionable  in  its  details  as  such  a  Bill  could 
possibly  be.  It  made  the  right  of  voting  clear  and 
distinct ;  its  only  evil  was  of  course  the  increase  of 
the  qualification.  In  a  word,  emancipation  coupled 
with  disfranchisement  simply  repaired  the  blunder 
committed  in  1793.  But  in  the  meantime  a  new  order 
of  things  had  come  into  existence,  and  for  that  new 
order  of  things  the  agitation  for  emancipation  was 
responsible.  "  It  is  a  good  beginning,"  wrote  O'Con- 
nell ;  "  and  now,  if  I  can  get  Catholics  and  Protestants 
to  join,  something  solid  and  substantial  may  be  done 
for  all."  It  was  a  beginning — a  beginning  of  every 
concession  since  made  to  Ireland.  Herein  lay  its 
significance. 

In  Ireland  the  news  of  the  victory  caused  a  pro- 
found impression.  But  every  precaution  had  been 
taken  by  the  Catholics  to  prevent  any  outburst  of 
popular  feeling  which  might  be  construed  into  an 
insult  to  the  Protestants.     The  predominant  desire 


1829]  Emancipation.  227 

on  the  part  of  the  former  was  for  reconciliation,  and, 
as  Peel  confessed,  the  first  results  of  emancipation 
were  a  far  greater  calm  in  Ireland  than  he  had  ever 
known  to  exist  there.  But  if  in  this  respect  the 
Catholics  yielded  a  ready  obedience  to  the  instruc- 
tions of  their  leaders,  they  were  not  to  be  debarred 
from  showing  their  gratitude  to  the  author  of  their 
newly  recovered  liberties.  A  subscription  for  a  na- 
tional testimonial  to  O'Connell  was  set  on  foot.  The 
idea,  following  the  precedent  set  by  the  Irish  Par-" 
liament  in  the  case  of  Grattan,  was  to  purchase  him 
an  estate ;  but  when  it  was  afterwards  found  that  he 
intended  to  abandon  his  professional  career,  and  to 
devote  himself  entirely  to  advocating  the  cause  of 
Ireland  in  Parliament,  the  plan  developed  into  that 
of  an  annual  tribute  which  seldom  fell  below  ;^i6,cxx), 
and  occasionally  attained  much  more  handsome  di- 
mensions. The  manager  and  treasurer  of  the  fund 
was  his  old  friend,  P.  V.  Fitzpatrick ;  and  to  his 
business-like  capacity  and  unflagging  devotion 
O'Connell  was  infinitely  indebted  for  the  regular 
supply  of  those  sinews  of  war  without  which  his 
agitation  would  have  been  deprived  of  its  chief 
weight. 

Meanwhile,  he  had  been  trying  by  every  means 
within  his  power  to  smooth  the  way  for  his  admis- 
sion into  Parliament.  On  9th  May,  he  addressed  a 
long  letter  to  every  individual  member  of  the  House 
of  Commons,  pleading  his  right  to  take  his  seat,  first, 
on  the  ground  of  the  Relief  Act,  and,  secondly,  be- 
cause no  Act  positively  prohibiting  Roman  Catholics 
sitting   in   Parliament   had    been    passed    since   the 


2  28  Dajiiel  O'CmtnelL  [1828- 

Union.  He  was  assured  that  Government  did  not 
mean  to  make  a  question  of  it,  and  he  was  hopeful 
of  success,  his  only  doubt  arising  from  the  line  of 
conduct  which  the  Speaker,  Manners  Sutton,  the 
nephew  of  his  old  enemy.  Lord  Manners,  might  pur- 
sue.  On  Friday,  15th  May,  Sir  Francis  Burdett 
moved  that  he  might  be  admitted  to  his  seat  on 
taking  the  oath  provided  by  the  Emancipation  Act. 
At  Peel's  request  the  debate  was  adjourned  to  the 
following  Monday.  On  that  day,  O'Connell  was 
heard  at  the  bar  in  support  of  the  claim.  His  speech 
was  calm  and  temperate,  his  manner  that  of  a  pol- 
ished gentleman,  and  his  argument,  if  not  convinc- 
ing, won  at  least  the  praise  of  some  of  the  ablest 
lawyers  in  the  House. 

"  Brougham,"  he  wrote  with  justifiable  pride  to  his  cous- 
in, Charles  Sugrue,  "  told  me  to-day  that  there  was  but 
one  opinion  on  the  subject  of  my  speech,  and  that  is,  that 
my  success  in  a  Parliamentary  career  is  quite  certain. 
Lord  Lansdowne  conveyed  to  me,  through  Tom  Moore, 
his  opinion  that  from  report  he  had  conceived  that,  how- 
ever suited  to  a  popular  assembly,  or  mob,  my  eloquence 
would  not  answer  for  the  refinement  of  Parliament,  but 
that  he  was  now  decidedly  convinced  of  the  contrary. 
The  Marquis  of  Anglesey  came  to  see  me  twice  with  a 
still  more  flattering  judgment." 

After  listening  to  him,  however,  the  House  de- 
cided by  190  to  116  that,  having  been  elected  before 
the  passing  of  the  Relief  Act,  he  could  not  be  allowed 
to  sit  unless  he  took  the  oath  obligatory  on  all 
members  at  the  time,  and  a  motion  was  carried  that 
he  should  attend  the  next  evening   and   the   clerk 


1829]  Emancipation.  229 

should    tender   him    that   oath  at  the  table  of   the 
House. 

"  I  was  present,"  writes  Rickard  O'Connell,  "  and  any- 
one who  witnessed  the  scene  can  never  forget  it.  The 
excitement  was  intense  ;  breathless  silence  prevailed  in 
that  crowded  assembly  when  he  was  introduced  by  Sir  F. 
Burdett  and  Lord  Duncannon.  The  Speaker  then  in- 
formed him  of  the  resolution  of  the  House  on  the  previous 
night  —  that  he  could  not  take  his  seat  unless  he  took  the 
oath  prescribed  at  the  time  he  was  elected.  The  Liberator 
then  said,  "  May  I  ask  to  see  the  oath  ?  "  The  clerk  was 
directed  to  hand  him  the  oath,  which  was  printed  on  a 
large  card.  O'Connell  put  on  his  spectacles  and  perused 
the  oath  with  deepest  attention.  One  would  suppose  he 
had  never  seen  the  oath  before  ;  during  the  few  minutes 
he  was  so  perusing  it  the  smallest  pin  could  be  heard 
drop.  He  then  said,  '  I  see  in  the  oath  one  assertion  as 
to  a  matter  of  fact  which  I  knoui  to  be  false.  I  see  in  it 
another  assertion  as  to  a  matter  of  opinion  which  I 
believe  to  be  untrue.  I  therefore  refuse  to  take  that 
oath,'  and  with  an  expression  of  the  most  profound 
contempt,  he  flung  the  card  from  him  on  the  table  of  the 
House.  The  House  was  literally  '^ struck  of  a  heap."  No 
other  phrase  that  I  know  of  but  that  quaint  old-fashioned 
one  can  accurately  describe  the  feeling  of  amazement 
that  pervaded  Parliament  for  some  minutes  after  the 
card  was  thus  contemptuously  flung  on  the  table.  The 
Speaker  then  said  :  '  The  hon.  and  learned  gentleman, 
having  refused  to  take  the  oath,  will  please  retire  below 
the  bar,'  and  the  Liberator,  again  leaning  on  Burdett 
and  Duncannon,  came  below  the  bar  and  sat  near  me 
under  the  gallery.  In  the  debate  that  ensued,  the 
speakers  on  all  sides  paid  him  the  highest  compliments. 


230  Daniel  O'Connell.  ii828- 

but  it  ended  in  the  issuing  of  a  new  writ  for  Clare.  The 
words  I  give  are  the  ipsissima  verba  —  the  precise  sylla- 
bles used  by  him  on  that  memorable  occasion  —  and  I 
never  saw  them  accurately  given  yet  in  any  account  of 
the  transaction." 

The  conduct  of  the  House  of  Commons  in  rejecting 
O'Connell  was  no  doubt  logical  enough,  but  it  yNzs, 
lacking  in  generosity,  and  bore  the  appearance  of  a 
petty,  vindictive  act  against  a  single  individual,  which, 
as  it  involved  no  principle  whatever,  robbed  eman- 
cipation of  the  little  bit  of  grace  that  clung  to  it, 
and  demonstrated  with  what  reluctance  the  conces- 
sion had  been  made. 

A  day  or  two  after  his  rejection,  O'Connell  issued 
his  second  address  to  the  electors  of  county  Clare  : 
*'  the  Address  of  the  Hundred  Promises,"  as  it  was 
ironically  styled  from  the  frequent  repetition  of  the 
phrase  "  Send  me  to  Parliament,  and  I  will.  .  .  ." 
After  reminding  them  that  it  was  mainly  to  their 
exertions  that  Ireland  owed  the  restoration  of  her 
religious  liberties,  he  called  on  them  to  complete 
their  work,  and,  by  again  returning  him,  to  assist  in 
securing  the  political  freedom  of  their  beloved  island. 
For  himself,  he  had  little  doubt  of  the  result  of  the 
appeal.  Some  time  would  inevitably  elapse  before 
the  election  could  take  place,  owing  to  the  necessity 
of  reconstructing  a  fresh  registry  on  the  basis  of  thf 
new  ;^io  franchise.  But  nothing  could  be  left  to 
chance,  and  it  was  desirable  that  he  should  begin  his 
canvass  as  soon  as  possible.  Accordingly,  he  returned 
to  Dublin  on  2nd  June.  His  arrival  was  the  signal 
for  another  great  ovation.     This  time  he  had  really 


18291  Emancipation.  231 

returned  as  the  Liberator.  Once  more,  thanks  to 
him,  the  Catholics  were  in  possession  of  those  rights 
of  which  they  had  for  nearly  a  century  and  a  half 
been  deprived.  Their  joy  and  gratitude  were  un- 
bounded. All  the  way  from  the  landing-place  to 
Merrion  Square,  the  streets  were  thronged  with 
people  trying  by  shouting  themselves  hoarse  to  show 
how  sincere  their  welcome  of  him  was.  And,  tired 
though  he  was,  it  was  only  after  he  had  gratified 
them  with  a  few  words  from  the  balcony  of  his  house, 
that  they  at  last  consented  to  retire  and  leave  him 
to  the  privacy  of  his  family. 

Next  day  he  addressed  a  large  gathering  in  Claren- 
don Street  chapel.  After  alluding  to  the  events 
which  had  recently  taken  place  —  the  passing  of  the 
Emancipation  Act  and  his  own  rejection — he  pro- 
ceeded to  discuss  their  plans  for  the  future.  History, 
he  said,  some  people  believed  had  come  to  a  full 
stop  because  emancipation  had  been  achieved.  The 
world  was  like  a  clock  run  down.  But  they  were  there 
to  wind  it  up  again,  and  start  a  fresh  agitation.  Eman- 
cipation was  only  a  step  to  Repeal.  They  were  that 
day  assembled,  not  as  Catholics  but  as  Irishmen,  and 
the  object  of  their  meeting  was  the  repeal  of  the 
Union  and  the  recovery  of  their  rights  as  a  nation. 
Before  the  meeting  separated  it  voted  him  the  ^5000 
remaining  in  the  hands  of  the  Association  at  the  time 
of  its  dissolution,  to  assist  in  defraying  his  election 
expenses.  Two  or  three  days  afterwards,  he  set  out 
for  Ennis.  His  journey  all  the  way  resembled  a  tri- 
umphal progress.  Every  town  through  which  he 
passed — Naas,  Kildare,  Monasterevan,  Maryborough, 


232  Daniel  O'Connell.  [I82d- 

Mountrath,  Roscrea — was  decked  in  green.  At  Ne- 
nagh,  which  he  reached  at  nightfall,  candles  were 
shining  in  every  window.  At  Limerick,  while  he 
snatched  a  few  hours'  sleep,  a  large  tree — roots  and 
all — was  planted  before  his  hotel,  and  when  he  ap- 
peared at  the  door  he  was  greeted  with  strains  of 
national  music  from  a  band  adroitly  concealed 
amongst  its  branches.  When  he  left  the  city,  an  im- 
mense crowd  escorted  him  on  the  way  to  Ennis, 
where,  at  some  distance  from  the  town,  a  triumphal 
car  was  waiting  for  him,  on  which,  "  like  Alexander 
entering  Babylon,"  as  an  admiring  reporter  had  it, 
he  accomplished  the  remainder  of  his  journey.  Six 
weeks  elapsed  before  the  election  took  place.  But 
banquets,  public  breakfasts,  political  meetings,  the 
necessity  of  canvassing  locally  every  part  of  the 
county,  a  flying  visit  to  Dublin,  another  to  Lifford, 
and  a  duel  between  Tom  Steele  and  Smith  O'Brien, 
helped  the  time  over.  Every  effort  was  made  by 
the  Brunswickers  to  spin  out  the  registry  as  long  as 
possible,  and  up  to  the  very  last  moment  it  was  ex- 
pected that  they  meant  to  run  an  opposition  candi- 
date. But  at  last  the  nomination  day,  the  30th  July, 
arrived,  and  O'Connell  was  returned  unopposed. 

During  the  election  he  had  announced  his  inten- 
tion of  devoting  himself  wholly  to  a  parliamentary 
career,  and  the  first  use  he  made  of  his  new-found 
liberty  was  to  retire  for  a  well-won  holiday  to  Darry- 
nane.  One  can  imagine  what  happy  days  he  spent 
there,  following  his  beagles  afoot  in  the  dewy  fresh- 
ness of  those  early  autumn  mornings,  his  enjoj^ment 
rendered  all  the  more  intense  by  reason  of  the  victory 


1829]  Emancipation,  233 

he  had  won  for  his  native  land  ;  and  the  pleasant 
evenings  that  closed  the  day,  in  the  society  of  his  fam- 
ily and  seldom  failing  guests,  whom  his  hospitable 
board  and  generous  companionship  attracted  thither. 
How  the  old  rafters  must  have  rung  with  merry  peals 
of  laughter  from  young  and  old  as,  in  that  rich  Kerry 
brogue  of  his,  he  poured  out  anecdote  on  anecdote 
in  endless  profusion  !  Happy  days,  indeed !  But 
if  O'Connell  had  ever  imagined  that  emancipation 
would  put  an  end  to  religious  dissension  in  Ireland, 
he  was  speedily  disabused  of  the  idea.  True,  the 
concession  had  been  made  that  henceforth  Catholic 
and  Protestant  were  on  an  equality  before  the  law. 
But  the  Act  which,  in  the  quaint  language  of  an 
Irishman,  had  left  Parliament  "  as  straight  as  a 
poker,"  soon,  in  the  hands  of  the  Irish  executive, 
became  "  as  twisted  as  a  corkscrew." 

"  You  are  aware,"  wrote  O'Connell  to  the  Knight  of 
Kerry  on  24th  September,  "  that  the  decided  countenance 
given  to  the  Orange  faction  prevents  emancipation  from 
coming  into  play.  There  is  more  of  unjust  and  unnat- 
ural virulence  towards  the  Catholics  in  the  present  ad- 
ministration than  existed  even  before  the  passing  of  the 
Emancipation  Bill.  Before  that  event,  the  Irish  govern- 
ment was  shamed  by  a  sense  of  decency  which  is  required 
from  public  hostility.  The  Relief  Bill  has  just  enabled 
them  to  act  with  distrust — immediate  and  personal  ran- 
cour on  the  one  hand,  and  with  open  and  unblushing 
favouritism  on  the  other." 

The  fact  was  that  the  ministry,  having  by  the 
concession  of  emancipation  thoroughly  shaken  the 
confidence  of    their   own    party,  were   anxious,    by 


234  Daniel  O' Connell.  [1828- 

displaying  a  firm  front,  to  show  that  it  was,  after  all,  a 
mere  strategic  movement  devoid  of  any  serious  sig- 
nificance, and  by  strong  asseverations  of  "  thus  far 
and  no  further,"  to  deprive  the  Emancipation  Act, 
as  O'Connell  complained,  of  its  natural  effect.  The 
Irish  government,  under  the  Duke  of  Northumber- 
land and  Lord  Leveson  Gower,  backed  up  their 
efforts,  and  it  was  not  surprising  that,  with  the  en- 
couragement thus  given  to  them,  the  Orangemen 
went  a  step  farther  than  was  intended,  and,  believing 
that  the  CathoHcs  had  been  handed  over  to  their 
mercy,  began  to  inflict  personal  vengeance  on  them 
for  the  defeat  they  had  recently  suffered.  Not  only 
was  O'Connell  denied  admission  to  the  inner  Bar  — 
a  matter  of  small  moment  in  itself,  but  significant  of 
the  general  treatment  to  which  the  Catholics  were 
subjected  —  but  as  the  summer  wore  to  a  close  signs 
of  stormy  weather  became  more  and  more  visible. 
Deprived  of  the  moral  support  of  the  Association 
the  Catholic  peasantry  fell  back  on  their  old,  time- 
dishonoured  plans  of  secret  combination.  Once 
more  Orangeman  and  Ribbonman  confronted  each 
other  —  once  more  agrarian  outrage  stalked  the  land. 
It  was  the  old,  old  story  over  again  —  non-payment 
of  rent,  followed  by  ejectment  and  intimidation. 
For  the  historian,  another  lost  opportunity  on  the 
part  of  England  to  conciliate  Ireland  to  be  recorded. 
In  Tipperary  the  situation  grew  so  serious  that 
the  magistrates  applied  to  government  for  military 
protection.  The  disorder  spread  into  the  neighbour- 
ing county  of  Cork,  where  a  plot  to  murder  certain 
landlords,  known  as  the  Doneraile  conspiracy,  was 


1829]  Emancipation.  235 

discovered  or  concocted,  A  number  of  persons  im- 
plicated in  it  were  arrested,  and  in  October  a  special 
commission,  presided  over  by  Baron  Pennefather  and 
Justice  Torrens,  was  sent  down  to  Cork  to  try  them. 
The  prosecution  was  conducted  by  the  Solicitor- 
General,  John  Doherty,  of  whose  zeal  to  procure  a 
conviction  there  was  not  the  slightest  doubt.  The 
trial  was  on  the  point  of  beginning  when  a  messen- 
ger, William  Burke,  of  Ballyhea, —  his  name  deserves 
to  be  remembered, —  sent  post-haste  to  implore 
O'Connell's  assistance  on  behalf  of  the  accused,  gal- 
loped up  to  Darrynane.  "  Would  the  Liberator 
come?  If  he  would,  not  a  moment  was  to  be  lost. 
It  was  Sunday :  next  morning  the  trial  would  begin 
and  between  them  Pennefather  and  Doherty  would 
hang  the  lot."  It  was  impossible  to  resist  his  appeal, 
and,  jotting  down  a  few  words  on  paper  to  the  effect 
that  he  would  be  in  Cork  next  day,  O'Connell  made 
instant  preparations  for  his  departure.  Giving  him- 
self hardly  time  to  bait  his  horse,  William  Burke, 
bearing  the  glad  tidings  that  the  Liberator  would 
come,  set  out  on  his  return  journey.  It  was  eight 
o'clock  on  the  morning  of  the  trial  that  he  reached 
Cork.  He  had  accomplished  the  whole  distance, 
there  and  back,  one  hundred  and  eighty  miles,  in 
thirty-eight  hours.  With  lightning-like  swiftness  the 
news  spread  through  the  town  that  O'Connell  was 
on  his  way  thither.  Despondency  gave  place  to 
hope,  and  it  was  felt  that  if  any  man  could  save  the 
accused  that  man  would  soon  be  there. 

Meanwhile,  the    judges    had    taken    their   seats. 
O'Connell's  letter  was  read  ;  but  it  was  impossible, 


236  Daniel  O^Connell.  [1828- 

said  Baron  Pennefather,  to  postpone  the  business  of 
the  court.  The  trial  proceeded.  Four  men  were 
found  guilty,  and  sentenced  to  be  hanged  in  a  week. 
The  jury  had  taken  five  minutes  to  consider  their 
verdict.  What  of  the  rest?  Would  O'Connell 
never  come?  The  excitement  was  at  fever-point 
when  suddenly  a  mighty  shout  from  the  crowd  out- 
side told  that  he  was  there.  A  minute  afterwards  he 
entered  the  court.  Bowing  to  the  Bench,  and  apolo- 
gising for  the  unprofessional  costume  in  which  he 
appeared  before  them,  he  obtained  permission  to 
break  his  fast  while  listening  to  the  details  of  what 
had  occurred  preceding  his  arrival.  With  the  help 
of  a  written  deposition  of  the  principal  witness, 
which  the  Solicitor-General  had  suppressed,  he  tore 
to  shreds  the  whole  case  for  the  prosecution.  Un- 
der his  cross-examination,  the  Crown  witnesses  in- 
volved themselves  in  such  a  labyrinth  of  contradiction 
and  confusion  that  one  of  them,  reduced  to  confess 
himself  a  liar,  bawled  out  in  agony — "  It  's  little  I 
thought  to  have  met  you  here  to-day,  Mr.  O'Con- 
nell !  "  The  same  evidence  which  had  served  to  hang 
four  men  served  to  acquit  the  rest.  Never  in  Ireland 
had  justice  been  rendered  with  so  much  dramatic 
effect  as  it  was  on  this  occasion.  It  was,  perhaps 
without  exception,  the  greatest  of  all  O'Connell's 
forensic  triumphs. 

But  the  fact  that  it  was  possible  for  men  to  be  so 
lightly  hanged  was  an  additional  reason  for  subject- 
ing the  executive  to  the  control  of  a  domestic 
legislature  ;  and,  returning  to  Darrynane,  O'Connell 
poured  forth  in  quick  succession  letter  after  letter  to 


1829]  Emancipation.  237 

the  people  of  Ireland,  urging  the  necessity  of  a  vig- 
orous attempt  to  procure  the  repeal  of  the  Act  of 
Union.  In  regard  to  law  reform,  he  professed  him- 
self a  "  thorough  Benthamite."  "  I  truly  believe," 
he  wrote,  "that  there  is  not  in' Turkey  anything 
more  radically  despotic  towards  the  poor  than  the 
present  system  of  magisterial  law."  Once  more  he 
called  on  the  Protestants  to  join  with  the  Catholics 
in  trying  to  obtain  justice  for  their  common  country. 

"Join  with  us,"  he  wrote, "  to  serve  that  country; 
join  with  us  to  lessen  burthens,  to  diminish  irresponsible 
power,  to  increase  commerce  and  manufactures  ;  to 
establish  popular  rights,  to  crush  aristocratical  monopoly, 
and  to  build  up  a  system  of  peaceable,  rational  freedom, 
which  shall  exterminate  grand-jury  jobbing,  which  shall 
annihilate  corporation  plunder,  which  shall  secure  for 
every  man  his  right  to  select  his  representative,  and  pro- 
tect him,  by  the  secrecy  of  a  ballot,  in  the  exercise  of 
that  selection,  and  which,  in  fine,  shall  give  to  Irishmen 
a  name,  and  make  Ireland  '  great,  glorious,  and  free.'  " 


CHAPTER  XL 


PARLIAMENTARY    REFORM   AND   TITHES. 


1830-1832. 


ON  4th  February-,  1830,  the  first  day  of  the  ses- 
sion, O'Connell  took  his  seat,  without  re- 
mark, in  the  House  of  Commons.  He  was 
verging  on  fifty-five  —  an  age  at  which  most  men 
find  it  difficult  to  adapt  themselves  to  new  condi- 
tions of  activity.  True,  Grattan  had  been  even  older 
when  he  entered  the  English  Parliament,  in  1805 ;  but 
he  had  enjoyed  what  O'Connell  never  had — the  ben- 
efit of  a  parliamentary  training  ;  and  over  against  his 
success  there  was  Flood's  failure  to  set.  Twenty-five 
years  had  elapsed  since  O'Connell  entered  public  life ; 
for  twenty  years  he  had  been  the  actual,  if  not  al- 
ways the  acknowledged,  leader  of  the  Irish  Catholics ; 
for  the  last  five  years  he  had  been  the  most  important 
factor  in  the  political  Hfe  of  Ireland,  and  his  influence 
was  not  confined  to  Ireland  alone.  In  England  his 
utterances  attracted  almost  as  much  notice  as  those 
of  the  Prime  Minister.  In  Europe,  especially  in 
Catholic  countries,  where  the  name  of  Ireland  was 

238 


1832]     Parliamentary  Reform  and  Tithes.   239 

hardly  known,  his  agitation  of  the  Catholic  question 
had  restored  its  ancient  fame.  Let  the  reader  turn 
to  any  old  newspaper,  English,  Irish,  or  Continental, 
belonging  to  the  years  1827  to  1847,  ^"d  the  name 
he  is  sure  oftenest  to  encounter  will  be  that  of 
O'Connell.  His  enemies  said  that  he  had  attained  a 
fictitious  importance,  and  they  hoped  that  he  would 
speedily  find  his  level  in  the  House  of  Commons. 
But  competent  judges  felt  little  doubt  of  his  suc- 
cess in  a  parliamentary  career.  For  himself,  being 
anxious  to  get  the  ordeal  of  his  maiden  speech  over 
as  soon  as  possible,  he  spoke  the  same  evening  in 
support  of  the  Amendment  to  the  Address.  It  was 
a  short  speech,  but  it  was  to  the  point,  and  at  the 
conclusion  of  it  he  was  warmly  cheered  from  all 
sides.  Next  day  he  wrote  to  his  cousin  Sugrue  :  "  I 
am  fast  learning  the  tone  and  temper  of  the  House, 
and  in  a  week  or  so  you  will  find  me  a  constant 
speaker.  I  will  soon  be  struggling  to  bring  forward 
Irish  business." 

He  kept  his  word  in  both  respects.  During  the 
session  he  spoke  frequently,  seldom,  indeed,  at  any 
length,  except  on  the  Distress  of  the  Country,  on 
23rd  March  ;  when  he  moved  the  repeal  of  the  Vestry 
Act  of  1827,  and  when  arraigning  the  conduct  of  the 
Irish  administration,  and  particularly  of  the  Solicitor- 
General  Doherty,  in  connection  with  the  trials  for  the 
Doneraile  conspiracy,  on  12th  May  ;  but  there  was 
scarcely  a  debate  of  any  importance  to  which  he  did 
not  contribute  his  quota.  He  presented  petitions 
in  favour  of  the  abolition  of  slavery,  and  one  from 
Drogheda  for  the  repeal  of  the  Union,  and  spoke  in 


240  Daniel  O'  Connell.  [1830- 

support  of  parliamentary  reform,  law  reform,  the 
abolition  of  the  game  laws,  the  removal  of  disabilities 
attaching  to  the  Jews,  and  in  opposition  to  Dr. 
Phillimore's  proposal  for  rendering  divorce  easy. 
It  is  true  that  he  never  entirely  succeeded  in  remov- 
ing the  prejudices  which  his  reputation  as  an  agitator 
had  created,  and  there  was  always  a  tendency  in 
certain  circles  to  regard  his  brogue  as  a  sign  of  in- 
feriority. But  he  won  the  esteem  of  the  House,  and 
though  at  first  he  found  some  difficulty  in  "  catching 
the  speaker's  eye,"  he  speedily  established  a  reputa- 
tion for  dialectical  ability,  practical  good  sense,  and 
unflagging  zeal  in  the  discharge  of  the  hard  work 
that  fell  to  his  share  in  committee.  There  is  a  story 
told  by  O'Neill  Daunt  that,  while  the  Reform  Bill 
was  under  discussion,  the  speeches  of  its  friends  and 
foes  were  one  day  canvassed  at  Lady  Beauchamp's. 
On  O'Connell's  name  being  mentioned,  some  critic 
fastidiously  said,  "  Oh,  a  broguing  Irish  fellow  !  Who 
would  listen  to  him !  I  always  walk  out  of  the 
House  when  he  opens  his  lips."  "Come,  Peel,"  said 
old  Lord  Westmoreland,  "  let  me  hear  your  opinion." 
"  My  opinion  candidly  is,"  replied  Peel,  "  that  if  I 
wanted  an  efficient  and  eloquent  advocate,  I  would 
readily  give  up  all  the  other  orators  of  whom  we 
have  been  talking,  provided  I  had  with  me  this 
same  broguing  Irish  fellow." 

During  the  Easter  recess  O'Connell  paid  a  visit  to 
Ireland.  He  was  still  bent  on  seeing  what  could  be 
done  for  Ireland  by  the  combined  effort  of  Catholics 
and  Protestants,  and  to  this  end,  on  6th  April,  he 
started  a  "  Society  of  the  Friends  of  Ireland."     The 


1832]      Parliamentary  Reform  and  Tithes.   241 

object  of  the  society  was  to  pave  the  way  for  the 
repeal  of  the  Union  by  obHterating  ancient  animosi- 
ties. But  that  no  one  who  had  the  interests  of 
Ireland  at  heart,  and  to  whom  repeal  seemed  either 
unnecessary  or  undesirable,  might  be  deterred  from 
joining  it,  the  subject  was  only  mentioned  as  one  of 
the  many  grievances  to  the  redress  of  which  the 
efforts  of  the  society  were  to  be  directed.  As  Law- 
less, to  whom  such  stratagems  seemed  contemptible, 
said,  "  Mr.  O'Connell  knows  or  thinks  that  '  the 
longest  way  round  is  the  shortest  way  home,'  and 
accordingly  has  put  that  most  vitally  important 
question  .  .  .  the  Repeal  of  the  Union — where? 
why  as  the  twenty-first  article  in  his  Litany  of 
Evils  !  "  That  Government  might  interfere  to  sup- 
press the  new  society  O'Connell  thought  possible, 
but  not  at  all  likely.  Ih  any  case,  as  he  wrote  to 
Richard  Barrett,  they  would  have  to  make  an  Act 
of  Parliament  against  him  individually,  by  name,  if 
they  intended  to  prevent  him  from  "  reconciling 
Irishmen  to  each  other,  and  combining  the  great 
majority,  if  not  all  of  them,  for  the  utility  of  our 
common  but  oppressed  country." 

What  he  had  deemed  unlikely,  however,  actually 
happened.  Hardly  had  he  returned  to  London 
than  the  Lord-Lieutenant,  the  Duke  of  Northumber- 
land, issued  a  proclamation  suppressing  the  society. 
The  policy  of  "  thus  far  and  no  farther  "  was  evid- 
ently to  be  rigidly  carried  out.  This  was  bad  ;  but  it 
was  still  worse  when  the  Chancellor  of  the  Exchequer 
proposed  to  assimilate  the  stamp  dues  in  Ireland  to 

those  of  England,  and  to  raise  the  excise  on  spirits. 

16 


242  Daniel  O' Connell.  tl830- 

The  proposal  at  once  elicited  a  strong  protest  from 
O'Connell.  But  his  protest  was  unheeded,  and,  see- 
ing the  necessity  for  stronger  measures,  he  advised  a 
run  on  the  Bank  of  Ireland  for  gold. 

"  The  time  is  come,"  he  wrote  to  his  friend  Philip 
Barron, "  when  Ireland  should  one  and  all  rouse  itself  to 
fling  off  the  administration  of  the  Duke  of  Wellington. 
.  .  .  This  is  the  very  time  to  attack  his  government 
in  every  legal  and  constitutional  way.  ,  .  ,  Call, 
therefore,  on  the  people  —  the  honest,  unsophisticated 
people  —  to  send  in  their  bank  notes  of  every  description, 
and  to  get  gold." 

His  letter  was  brought  before  Parliament.  Reply- 
ing to  the  strictures  passed  on  it,  he  disclaimed  any 
intention  of  defending  his  action  to  the  House.  He 
would,  he  declared,  say  what  he  liked  and  do  what 
he  liked  outside  it  without  asking  its  consent.  By 
agitation  Ireland  had  become  strong  ;  by  agitation 
she  had  put  down  her  bitter  enemies  ;  by  agitation 
had  her  conscience  been  set  free  ;  by  agitation  had 
Irish  freedom  been  achieved,  and  by  agitation  should 
it  be  secured.  The  Emancipation  Act,  it  was  said, 
had  failed  to  restore  tranquillity  to  Ireland,  but  whose 
fault  had  it  been  ?  How,  for  instance,  had  Govern- 
ment behaved  towards  the  Catholic  Bar  ?  For  him- 
self, he  contemned  the  name  of  office.  He  had  given 
his  advice  to  his  countrymen,  and  whenever  he  felt 
it  necessary  he  should  continue  to  do  so,  careless 
whether  it  pleased  or  displeased  the  House  or  any 
mad  person  outside  it.  The  threat  proved  sufficient. 
On  the  first  of  July  he  was  able  to  announce  that  the 


1832]      Parliamentary  Reform  and  Tithes.   243 

stamp  duties  had  been  abandoned.  The  increase  on 
spirits  remained  ;  but,  as  the  distillers  did  not  com- 
plain, he  thought  it  unnecessary  to  throw  away  "  any 
good  agitation  "  over  the  matter. 

George  IV.  died  on  26th  June,  and  on  24th  July 
Parliament  was  dissolved.  Invitations  at  once  poured 
in  upon  O'Connell  from  numerous  constituencies  — 
from  Clare,  Drogheda,  Wexford,  Waterford,  Galway, 
Meath,  Louth,  Cork,  Kerry  —  all  alike  anxious  to 
have  him  as  their  representative.  It  was  difficult  to 
determine  to  which  he  should  give  the  preference ; 
but  after  hesitating  between  Wexford  and  Waterford 
he  finally  decided  in  favour  of  the  latter;  and  for 
Waterford  county  he  was  accordingly  returned,  along 
with  Lord  George  Beresford.  The  elections  over, 
he  retired  in  August  to  Darrynane,  whence  he  issued 
in  rapid  succession  letter  after  letter  to  the  Irish 
people  on  every  question  of  public  importance  —  the 
revolution  in  France,  the  insurrection  in  Belgium, 
parliamentary  reform,  commutation  of  tithes,  etc., 
but  all  alike  tending  to  one  object  —  the  repeal  of 
the  Union. 

"  I  close  this,  my  first  letter,"  he  wrote  on  6th,  Septem- 
ber "  by  an  earnest  appeal  to  the  People  of  Ireland  of 
all  classes,  sects  and  persuasions,  to  unite  at  this  most 
important  and  soul-stirring  period  in  simultaneous  efforts 
to  restore  their  native  land  to  her  station  among  the 
nations.  Let  those  efforts  be  peaceable,  legal,  con- 
stitutional, open  and  undisguised  ;  but  let  them  be 
active  and  unceasing  until  Ireland  is  righted  and  her 
Parliament  restored." 

His     letters    were    widely    read,  and    exercised    a 


244  Daniel  O'Connell.  [1830- 

profound  influence  on  the  country.  Day  by  day  the 
movement  gained  in  volume  and  intensity.  O'Con- 
nell  himself  was  astonished  at  the  enthusiasm  which 
his  words  had  created.  Now  was  the  time,  he  wrote 
to  his  friend  Michael  Staunton,  of  the  Register,  to 
agitate  the  great  question.  The  one  thing  needful 
was  a  permanent  society  "  in  order  to  collect  funds 
in  prima  loco,  to  collect  funds  in  secundo  loco,  and 
to  collect  funds,  thirdly  and  lastly,  because  we  have 
both  mind  and  body  within  us,  and  all  we  want  is  the 
means  of  keeping  the  machine  in  regular  and  supple 
motion."  Having  settled  the  subject  in  his  own 
mind,  he  did  not  let  the  grass  grow  under  his  feet. 
Few  men  could  have  gone  through  the  hard  work 
which  he  undertook.  On  Thursday,  7th  October, 
he  attended  "the  best  public  dinner  I  was  ever  at," 
in  Killarney.  On  Friday  he  addressed  "a  most 
numerous  meeting,"  in  the  court-house  of  Tralee, 
"in  honour  of  the  French  and  Belgic  revolutions." 
Next  day  there  was  another  meeting  in  the  same 
place  against  the  Subletting  and  Vestry  Bills,  for 
radical  Reform,  and  Repeal  of  the  Union.  On 
Monday  he  was  present,  and  of  course  spoke,  at  a 
dinner  at  Kanturk;  Tuesday  saw  him  in  Cork  speak- 
ing at  another  public  dinner ;  on  Wednesday  there 
was  a  mass-meeting  in  Youghall,  on  Thursday  a 
public  dinner  in  Waterford,  followed  next  day  by  a 
meeting  for  redress  of  grievances. 

Arriving  a  day  or  two  afterwards  in  Dublin,  he  at 
once  set  about  founding  a  permanent  society  for  the 
propagation  of  the  Repeal  agitation.  A  small  pre- 
liminary meeting  was  to  be  followed  by  a  larger  one 


1832]      Parliamentary  Reform  and  Tithes.   245 

to  sanction  the  establishment  of  an  "  Anti-Union 
Association  or  Society  for  Legislative  Relief."  But 
the  project  had  hardly  taken  shape  when  the  Govern- 
ment, in  the  person  of  the  Chief  Secretary,  Sir  Henry 
Hardinge,  stepped  in  and  suppressed  it.  O'Con- 
nell's  indignation  found  vent  in  an  attack  on  the 
Chief  Secretary  of  a  character  so  personal  that  the 
latter  immediately  demanded  satisfaction  for  it. 
But  O'Connell,  while  expressing  his  perfect  readiness 
"  to  retract  and  atone  for  any  fact  alleged  by  him 
not  founded  in  proof,"  refused  absolutely,  "  be  the 
consequences  of  such  disclaimer  what  they  might," 
to  afford  him  the  satisfaction  of  firing  at  him.  To 
the  taunt  of  cowardice  afterwards  levelled  at  him  in 
Parliament,  he  replied,  "  I  am  content.  I  am  vindi- 
cated before  my  God,  and  I  will  not  condescend  to 
vindicate  myself  before  you."  Two  days  after  the 
suppression  of  the  "  Anti-Union  Association  "  he 
founded  a  society  called  the  "  Irish  Volunteers  for 
the  Repeal  of  the  Union."  This  being  in  turn  sup- 
pressed, he  started  a  series  of  public  breakfasts  in 
Holmes's  Hotel,  on  Ussher's  Quay,  at  which  he  and 
his  friends  drank  coffee  and  talked  pohtics.  In  re- 
sorting to  this  stratagem  he  announced  his  intention, 
if  Government  thought  fit  to  proclaim  the  "  break- 
fasts," of  establishing  "  political  luncheons."  Should 
these  prove  distasteful  to  his  grace,  the  Duke  of 
Wellington,  he  would  substitute  "political  dinners." 
When  these  were  suppressed,  he  would  invite  his 
friends,  after  the  manner  of  certain  ladies,  "  for  tea 
and  tracts,"  and  so  on  till  supper  was  reached.  His 
announcement  was  received  with  screams  of  laughter, 


246  Daniel  O^Connell.  [1830- 

and  Government,  feeling  that  it  was  making  it- 
self ridiculous,  withdrew  from  the  contest.  Accord- 
ingly, during  his  absence  in  London,  the  weekly 
meetings  in  Holmes's  Hotel  served  as  a  rallying 
centre  for  the  advocates  of  Repeal.  But  in  Parlia- 
ment, though  he  presented  petitions  in  favour  of  the 
repeal  of  the  Union  from  Waterford  and  other  places, 
the  question  made  little  progress,  owing  to  the  ab- 
sorbing interest  felt  in  parliamentary  reform. 

On  1 6th  November,  Wellington,  having  been  de- 
feated on  his  proposed  revision  of  the  Civil  List,  in 
consequence  of  the  declaration  against  reform,  re- 
signed office,  and  was  succeeded  by  Earl  Grey.  The 
Irish,  who  had  contributed  materially  to  this  result, 
were  rewarded  by  the  re-appointment  of  the  Marquis 
of  Anglesey  as  Viceroy.  But  the  pleasing  anticipa- 
tions with  which  his  appointment  were  at  first  hailed 
were  speedily  damped  when  it  was  found  that  his 
Chief  Secretary  was  to  be  Edward  Stanley,  after- 
wards Earl  of  Derby,  of  whose  doubtful  radicalism 
the  electors  of  Preston  had  recently  expressed  their 
disapprobation  by  preferring  "Orator"  Hunt  as 
their  representative  in  Parliament.  "  I  fear,"  O'Con- 
nell  wrote  on  29th  November,  "  that  the  Marquis  of 
Anglesey  is  getting  into  bad  hands.  The  only  good 
thing  about  him  is  his  determination,  which  is  fixed, 
to  pack  off  the  Gregorys,  etc.,  from  the  Castle."  Un- 
fortunately, even  this  little  scrap  of  consolation  had 
before  long  to  be  abandoned.  The  fact  was  that 
Anglesey,  like  many  other  politicians,  had  come  to 
the  conclusion  that  the  concession  of  emancipation 
had  or  ought  to  have  satisfied  Ireland.     All  that  she, 


I 


1832]     Parliamentary  Reform  and  Tithes.   247 

in  his  opinion,  wanted  was  peace.  Agitation  was 
the  only  thing  that  could  prevent  her  prospering,  and 
for  himself  he  was  resolved  to  put  down  agitation 
with  a  strong  hand.  There  was  something  of  ostrich- 
like stupidity  in  the  view  he  took  of  the  situation. 
Instead  of  frankly  admitting  that  emancipation,  as 
interpreted  by  the  Irish  government,  had  failed  to 
satisfy  a  single  person,  and  trying  in  statesmanlike 
fashion  to  solve  the  new  problem  that  had  arisen,  by 
giving  practical  effect  to  it,  he  contented  himself 
with  crying  Peace,  peace,  when  there  was  really  no 
peace,  unmindful  of  the  fact  that  no  agitator,  how- 
ever powerful,  can  create  an  agitation  out  of  nothing, 
and  that  even  your  Hyde  Park  orator,  who  each 
Sunday  harrangues  his  little  knot  of  listeners,  has  his 
raison  d'etre.  "  Things  have  come  to  that  pass," 
he  wrote  to  his  wife,  "  that  the  question  is  whether 
O'Connell  or  I  shall  govern  Ireland."  It  was  com- 
placently said  ;  for  of  his  ability  to  put  O'Connell 
down  he  made  little  question. 

But  before  resorting  to  measures  of  repression,  he 
determined  to  make  an  appeal  to  those  motives  of 
self-interest  by  which  O'Connell  was  supposed  to 
regulate  his  conduct,  offering  to  make  him  a  judge, 
or  "  anything,  in  fact,  if  he  would  give  up  the  agita- 
tion." "  Lord  Anglesey,"  O'Connell  wrote  to  his 
friend,  Newton  Bennett,  "  sent  for  me  and  talked  to 
me  for  two  hours,  to  prevail  on  me  to  join  the  Gov- 
ernment ;  he  went  so  far  as  to  discuss  my  private 
affairs  in  order  to  prevail  on  me  to  repair  my 
fortunes ! "  His  Lordship  recorded  the  result  of 
the  interview  next  day  to  Lord  Cloncurry  : 


248  Daniel  O'Connell.  [1830- 

"O'Connell  is  my  avant  courier.  He  starts  to-day 
with  more  mischief  in  hand  than  I  have  yet  seen  him 
charged  with.  I  saw  him  yesterday  for  an  hour  and  a 
half.  I  made  no  impression  on  him  whatever  ;  and  I 
am  now  thoroughly  convinced  that  he  is  bent  upon  des- 
perate agitation.  All  this  will  produce  no  change  in 
my  course  and  conduct.  ...  I  deprecate  agita- 
tion. ...  I  pray  for  peace  and  repose.  But  if  the 
sword  is  really  to  be  drawn,  ...  if,  for  the  pro- 
tection of  the  State,  I  am  driven  to  the  dire  necessit)'  of 
again  turning  soldier,  why  then  I  must  endeavour  to  get 
back  into  old  habits,  and  live  amongst  a  people  I  love  in 
a  state  of  misery  and  distress." 

"  Poor  Anglesey  !  "  O'Connell  one  day  remarked  to 
Purcell  O'Gorman  ;  "  the  unfortunate  man  was  not 
wicked,  but  misguided."  "  Why,"  replied  O'Gorman, 
"  that  is  exactly  what  he  says  of  you.  One  day  I 
visited  him  he  said  to  me,  *  That  unfortunate  O'Con- 
nell means  well,  but  he  is  misguided.'  "  It  was  not 
long  before  the  two  came  into  collision. 

Returning  to  Ireland  on  i8th  December,  O'Con- 
nell received  another  tremendous  ovation.  The 
welcome  accorded  to  him  contrasted  strangely  with 
the  chilling  reception  meted  out  to  Anglesey,  when 
he  landed  a  week  later  at  Kingstown.  People,  re- 
membering how  he  had  advocated  emancipation, 
had  intended  to  greet  him  in  another  fashion  ;  but 
his  refusal  or  inability  to  remove  the  **  old  warriors  " 
from  the  Castle,  and  the  appointment  of  "  Dirty 
Doherty  "  as  Chief  Justice  of  the  Common  Pleas, 
had  deprived  him  of  the  popularity  he  had  acquired 
during  his  first  viceroyalty.     But  he  was,  or  affected 


1832]      Parliamentary  Reform  and  Tithes.   249 

to  be,  little  moved  by  this  display  of  hostile  feeling 
towards  him.  He  had  come  over  determined  to 
suppress  agitation,  even  if  he  went  the  length  of 
clapping  the  arch-agitator  himself  in  prison.  The 
day  following  his  arrival,  Sunday,  the  26th,  he  pro- 
claimed a  meeting  of  the  "Tradesmen  of  Dublin," 
which  was  to  have  been  held  next  day  at  Phibs- 
borough,  as  calculated  to  lead  to  a  disturbance  of 
the  public  peace.  The  proclamation  was  hardly  an 
hour  old  when  O'Connell  issued  another,  in  his  own 
name,  countermanding  the  meeting.  Government, 
at  any  rate,  was  not  to  have  the  credit  alone  of  pre- 
serving the  public  peace.  The  proclamation  of  the 
Trades  meeting  was  followed  up  by  a  general  order 
to  all  magistrates  to  suppress  all  meetings,  where- 
soever held,  for  the  purpose  of  effecting  political 
changes  by  forcible  means.  As  the  magistrates 
were  to  a  man  anti-repealers,  the  interpretation  they 
were  likely  to  place  on  the  qualifying  words,  "  forci- 
ble means,"  practically  amounted  to  a  suppression 
of  the  right  of  public  meeting.  At  a  breakfast  in 
Holmes's  Hotel,  at  which  some  450  persons  were 
present,  O'Connell  roundly  denounced  the  order  as 
an  illegal  interference  with  the  right  of  petitioning, 
and  at  his  suggestion  a  society  was  immediately 
formed,  calling  itself  "  A  General  Association  for 
Ireland  to  prevent  illegal  meetings  and  protect  the 
exercise  of  the  sacred  right  of  petition." 

The  society  met  for  the  first  time  on  6th  January, 
183 1,  in  the  Parliamentary  Intelligence  Oflfices, 
in  Stephen's  Street.  It  was  at  once  proclaimed. 
Thereupon    O'Connell   announced  his  intention  of 


250  Daniel  O'Connell.  [1830- 

constituting  himself  a  society,  and  carrying  on  the 
work  of  agitation,  with  the  assistance  of  the  press  and 
Edward  Dwyer,  the  former  secretary  of  the  CathoHc 
Association.  At  his  invitation,  three  hundred  per- 
sons assembled  to  dine  at  Hayes's  tavern.  He  was 
engaged  in  addressing  them  when  two  police  mag- 
istrates entered  the  room  and  ordered  them  to 
disperse.  After  a  somewhat  heated  discussion, 
O'Connell  advised  compliance  with  the  order,  which, 
though  illegal,  nevertheless  bore  the  appearance  of 
law,  and  the  meeting,  after  cheering  lustily  for  "  Re- 
peal," quietly  separated.  The  dispersal  of  the 
dinner  at  Hayes's  was  followed  by  a  proclamation 
prohibiting  all  and  every  kind  of  association  what- 
ever. It  was  a  strong  step,  and  O'Connell  that  same 
night  sent  to  the  press  a  letter  blazing  with  indigna- 
tion. He  had,  he  wrote,  one  word  of  caution  to 
address  to  his  fellow-countrymen  in  regard  to  this 
fourth  proclamation.  Its  object  was  to  gag  the 
Irish  people.  Some  time  ago,  he  had  advised  every- 
body to  exchange  his  notes  for  gold.  The  time 
might  come  to  put  his  advice  in  practice.  He  called 
upon  them  for  the  present  to  pause.  Let  them 
watch  the  motives  of  the  vile  underlings  of  despotic 
authority.  Let  them  wait  patiently  until  they  saw 
whether  the  press  was  to  be  assailed.  Until  then 
he  would  remain  neutral.  But  should  the  press  be 
assailed  ;  should  prosecution  extend  to  this,  their 
last  hope  of  freedom,  then  he  would  use  all  the 
energies  of  his  mind,  and  whatever  influence  he 
possessed,  to  lessen  the  power  of  the  paper-makers 
and    to    produce    a    general    gold    currency.      He 


1832]     Parliamentary  Reform  and  Tithes.    251 

concluded  with  again  cautioning  them  against  secret 
societies,  against  illegal  oaths,  and  against  every 
every  species  of  tumult,  violence,  or  outrage.  The 
repeal  of  the  Union  could  not  long  be  delayed  by 
their  enemies :  it  might  be  fatally  retarded  by  their 
own  misconduct.  A  day  or  two  afterwards,  there 
was  a  Repeal  meeting  in  St.  Thomas's  parish. 
O'Connell  appeared  in  deep  mourning.  He  was 
determined,  he  said,  to  wear  it  until  the  obnoxious 
Act  under  which  their  associations  were  proclaimed 
was  repealed.  Nay,  more :  he  had  resolved  not  to 
taste  any  excisable  article  until  that  event  took 
place.  That  very  morning,  when  tea  and  coffee  had 
been  placed  before  him,  he  had  put  them  aside  and 
contented  himself  with  milk. 

Meeting  next  morning,  i8th  January,  with  a  few 
friends  at  Hayes's  tavern  for  breakfast,  he  was,  on 
returning  home,  arrested  on  a  warrant  charging  him 
with  conspiracy  with  several  other  persons  to  violate 
and  evade  the  proclamation.  Being  taken  to  the 
head  Pohce  Office,  he  was  required  to  give  bail,  him- 
self in  ;^iooo,  and  two  securities  each  in  £^QO'.  his 
associates,  Lawless,  Steele,  Barrett,  Dwyer,  Rey- 
nolds, Redmond,  and  Clooney,  being  at  the  same 
time  bound  over  in  £200^  and  two  securities  each  in 
^100,  to  appear  when  called  upon  for  trial.  When 
the  news  of  the  arrest  became  known,  Dublin  was 
thrown  into  a  state  of  wild  excitement.  "  I  never," 
wrote  O'Mara  to  Lord  Cloncurry,  "  witnessed  any- 
thing so  turbulent  and  angry  as  the  populace  were 
in  Dublin  this  day  —  not  even  in  the  height  of  '98." 
Indeed,  Government  had  to  thank  O'Connell,  who 


252  Daniel  O'ConnelL  [I830- 

took  the  earliest  opportunity  of  enforcing  obedience 
on  the  people,  that  a  serious  riot  did  not  take  place. 
The  indictment  consisted  of  thirty-one  counts  —  the 
first  fourteen  charging  the  traversers  with  having 
violated  the  provisions  of  the  Act  10,  George  IV., 
better  known  as  "  the  worse  than  Algerine  Act "  ; 
the  remaining  seventeen  with  fraud  and  duplicity 
against  Government.  True  bills  were  returned  by 
the  grand  jury  on  25th  January,  and  the  trial  was 
fixed  for  17th  February. 

As  O'Connell's  conduct  exposed  him  at  the  time 
to  much  adverse  criticism,  which  certain  historians 
and  biographers  have  since  endorsed,  it  will  help  to 
a  better  understanding  of  it  if  one  or  two  facts  are 
clearly  borne  in  mind.  First,  that  the  Irish  govern- 
ment was  solely  responsible  for  the  prosecution  ; 
second,  that  the  Grey  administration  was  pledged 
to  Reform,  and,  being  particularly  weak  in  debating 
power  in  the  House  of  Commons,  could  ill  afford  to 
lose  O'Connell's  support ;  third,  that  "  the  worse 
than  Algerine  Act "  was  a  temporary  device,  bound 
to  expire  with  the  expiration  of  the  Parliament  that 
had  created  it.  The  conditions  for  a  compromise 
existed.  The  Whigs  wanted  O'Connell's  assistance 
in  the  House  of  Commons  ;  he  wanted  to  avoid  a 
trial,  which  he  calculated  would  last  a  week,  which 
might  be  attended  by  public  disturbances,  and  fol- 
lowed by  pecuniary  or  corporal  punishment  for  him- 
self. It  was  said  he  was  afraid  to  go  to  gaol.  His 
action  could  bear  that  construction  ;  the  motive, 
however,  was  not  fear,  but  the  desire  to  inflict  a 
defeat  on  Anglesey's  government  by  rendering  the 


1832]      Parliamentary  Reform  and  Tithes.   253 

prosecution  abortive  —  a  very  different  matter.  It 
was  a  game  in  which  neither  he  nor  the  administra- 
tion could  afford  to  show  their  cards  openly.  Hence 
the  conflicting  rumours  that  gained  currency  of  de- 
feat on  the  part  of  O'Connell ;  of  retreat  on  the 
part  of  Government.  Hence,  too,  the  confident  as- 
sertions of  Stanley,  in  the  House  of  Commons, 
that  Government  had  no  intention  of  compromis- 
ing the  prosecution,  while  all  the  time  a  tacit  com- 
promise, of  which  Stanley  was  ignorant,  actually 
existed. 

The  course  of  events  was  as  follows:  on  i8th 
January  O'Connell  was  arrested  ;  next  week  the  grand 
jury  returned  a  true  bill  against  him,  whereupon  he 
demurred  to  the  first  fourteen  counts  in  the  indict- 
ment, charging  him  with  a  breach  of  "  the  worse 
than  Algerine  Act,"  and  pleaded  not  guilty  to  the 
remaining  seventeen,  charging  him  with  conspiracy 
under  the  Common  Law.  The  demurrers  were  fixed 
to  be  heard  on  7th  February.  In  the  midst  of  the 
proceedings,  and  while  the  public  mind  was  vio- 
lently excited,  a  communication  reached  O'Connell, 
through  one  "  in  the  confidence  of  the  ministry  in 
England,"  that  the  latter  were  ready  to  do  every- 
thing for  Ireland  short,  of  Repeal  "  provided  he 
would  give  up  the  question  for  the  present." 
O'Connell,  to  whom  a  bird  in  the  hand  was  always 
worth  more  than  two  in  the  bush,  thereupon  ap- 
pealed to  Lords  Meath  and  Cloncurry,  who  "  have 
it  in  their  power  to  put  themselves  at  the  head  of 
the  popular  party  in  Ireland,  and  to  do  more  good 
to  the  country,  and  prevent  more  evil,  than  any  two 


254  Daniel  O'Connell.  [1830- 

persons  ever  had  before,"  offering  to  assist  Govern- 
ment in  allaying  the  popular  ferment  if  they  would 
pledge  themselves  to  the  future  support  of  Repeal. 
This  they,  however,  refused  to  do.  Thereupon 
O'Connell  announced  his  attention  of  setting  out  for 
London  on  31st  January,  and  accordingly  on  that 
day  he  proceeded,  accompanied  by  an  immense  con- 
course of  well-wishers,  bearing  banners  with  "  Re- 
peal of  the  Union,"  "  Erin  go  bragh,"  "  Hail  to  the 
Liberator,"  and  other  patriotic  mottoes  on  them, 
from  his  house  in  Merrion  Square  to  Kingstown. 

It  was  a  stormy  day  and,  as  he  neared  the  pier, 
snow,  long  known  as  "  the  O'Connell  snow,"  began 
to  fall  heavily.  Darkness  set  in,  and  everybody, 
except  a  few  of  his  more  intimate  friends,  believing 
that  he  had  embarked,  returned  as  quickly  as  pos- 
sible to  their  several  homes.  Anglesey,  thinking  he 
had  scored  another  point,  wrote : 

"  O'Connell  embarked  for  England  this  afternoon, 
not  venturing  to  await  the  judgment  of  the  court  upon 
his  pleas.  By  this  he  forfeits  his  recognizances,  him- 
self in  ;^iooo,  and  his  securities  in  ^^500  each,  or,  if 
he  returns,  there  is  no  doubt  he  will  be  committed." 

As  a  matter  of  fact,  while  he  was  writing,  O'Con- 
nell was  quietly  toasting  his  toes  by  his  own  fireside. 
He  had  received  information  that  he  was  to  be 
called  up  next  day  for  trial.  On  5th  February,  he 
asked  leave  to  withdraw  his  demurrers,  and  plead 
"  not  guilty  "  to  the  whole  indictment.  Government, 
anxious  not  to  prolong  the  case,  granted  his  applica- 
tion. Time  pressed,  and  he  was  desirous  of  being  in 
his   place    in    the   House.      On    iith    February  he 


1832]      Parliamentary  Reform  and  Tithes.   255 

applied  personally  to  the  Attorney-General  to  allow 
the  trial  to  stand  over  till  Easter  term,  "  provided 
there  be  nothing  in  such  postponement  inconsistent 
with  your  views  of  the  interests  of  the  Crown  and 
the  public."  The  Attorney-General  replied  that  he 
could  not  suspend  the  trial,  and  was  congratulated 
by  Stanley  on  having  got  the  arch-agitator  on  the 
hip.  O'Connell  thereupon  offered  to  let  judgment 
go  against  him  by  default  on  the  first  fourteen 
counts,  on  condition  that  the  Attorney-General  with- 
drew the  remaining  counts  charging  him  with  con- 
spiracy, and  consented  to  postpone  judgment  till  the 
first  day  of  Easter  term.  In  other  words  he  agreed, 
on  condition  of  not  forfeiting  his  recognisances,  and 
being  allowed  to  advocate  Reform  in  the  House  of 
Commons,  to  admit  that  he  had  incurred  the  penal- 
ties due  to  the  breach  of  "  the  worse  than  Algerine 
Act."  The  Attorney-General  assented  to  the  ar- 
rangement, and  Government  congratulated  itself 
upon  the  easy  victory  it  had  won.  Before  three 
months  had  elapsed,  it  was  patent  to  the  blindest 
intelligence  that  the  victory  was  in  reality  a  crush- 
ing defeat,  and  that  O'Connell  had  out-manoeuvred 
Blackburne  on  his  own  ground. 

On  the  day  originally  appointed  for  the  trial,  17th 
February,  O'Connell  arrived  in  London.  On  the 
28th  there  was  a  brisk  exchange  of  arms  between 
him  and  Stanley,  who,  in  the  exuberance  of  his 
triumph,  had  given  out  that  the  former,  fearing  con- 
viction, had  solicited  a  compromise  of  the  prosecu- 
tion. This  O'Connell  roundly  denied.  No  friend 
of   his,  he  declared,  had,  with  any  authority  from 


256  Daniel  O'Connell.  [1830- 

him,  or  to  his  knowledge,  ever  made  any  such  appli- 
cation ;  but  he  thought  it  right  to  say  that  persons 
who  represented  themselves  as  authorised  by  the 
Crown  had  made  overtures  to  him,  and  that  he  had 
written  back  refusing  to  accede  to  the  terms.  Prob- 
ably no  one  was  more  surprised  at  this  revelation  of 
a  secret  intrigue  than  Stanley  himself.  Next  day, 
Lord  John  Russell  submitted  the  Reform  Bill  to  the 
House  of  Commons.  On  8th  March,  O'Connell 
rose  to  support  the  measure.  "  Giving  his  wig  a 
twitch  lest  he  should  lose  it,"  says  an  onlooker,  he 
spoke  for  three  hours,  explaining  that  while  the  Bill 
fell  far  short  of  his  own  wishes  in  regard  to  universal 
suffrage,  vote  by  ballot  and  short  parliaments,  it  was 
nevertheless  a  liberal  and  extensive  measure,  and 
as  such  would  receive  his  unqualified  support.  The 
fact  was,  he  had  come  to  regard  Reform  as  an  indis- 
pensable step  to  Repeal,  believing,  like  so  many  of 
his  contemporaries,  that  extension  of  the  franchise, 
and  destruction  of  rotten  boroughs,  necessarily  im- 
plied greater  liberality  on  the  part  of  the  Legislature. 
He  was  soon  to  discover  that  Hodge  and  his  mas- 
ter were  pretty  much  of  one  opinion  as  regarded 
Ireland.  Easter  arrived,  but  his  presence  in  London 
was  more  than  ever  necessary  to  the  ministry,  and, 
with  the  consent  of  the  Attorney-General  for  Ireland, 
judgment  was  postponed  till  May.  On  22nd  April, 
however,  ministers  having  been  defeated  on  a  clause 
of  the  Bill,  dissolved  Parliament.  With  the  dissolu- 
tion "  the  worse  than  Algerine  Act  "  expired,  and 
O'Connell  was  once  more  a  free  man. 

Returning  to  Ireland,  he  threw  himself,  heart  and 


1832]     Parlimnentary  Reform  and  Tithes.   257 

soul,  into  electioneering  business.  The  cry  that  re- 
sounded throughout  England  of  "  the  bill,  the  whole 
bill  and  nothing  but  the  bill  "  found  through  him  an 
echo  also  in  Ireland.  People  of  the  stamp  of  George 
Ensor  said  that  in  his  enthusiasm  for  Reform  he  had 
forgotten  all  about  Repeal.     It  was  not  so. 

"  Let  no  one,"  he  wrote  in  a  "  Letter  to  the  People  of 
Ireland,"  "  deceive  you,  and  say  I  am  abandoning  my 
principles  of  anti-unionism.  It  is  false.  I  am  decidedly 
of  opinion  that  the  repeal  of  the  union  is  the  only  meas- 
ure by  which  Irish  prosperity  and  Irish  freedom  can  be 
secured.  .  .  .  But  it  is  only  in  a  reformed  parlia- 
ment that  the  question  can  be  properly,  coolly,  and  dis- 
passionately discussed." 

The  result  of  the  elections  in  Ireland  strengthened 
the  hands  of  the  Reformers.  O'Connell  himself 
was  returned  for  county  Kerry,  in  the  room  of  the 
Knight  of  Kerry,  and  the  opening  day  of  the  new 
parliament,  12th  June,  saw  him  in  his  customary  seat 
in  the  House  of  Commons. 

But  Reform,  though  it  still  continued  to  hold  the 
first  place  in  his  consideration,  was  not  the  only,  or 
indeed  the  most  pressing,  subject  that  occupied  his 
attention.  Distress,  always  chronic  in  Ireland,  had 
again  been  intensified  by  the  recurrence  of  a  bad 
harvest.  During  the  winter  of  1830-31  there  had  been 
local  outbursts  of  agrarian  crime,  attended  by  a  gen- 
eral indisposition  to  pay  tithes.  In  March  Bishop 
Doyle  published  a  "  Letter,"  which  in  fact  amounted 
to  a  substantial  pamphlet  of  133  pages,  "on  the 
establishment  of  a  legal  provision  for  the  Irish  poor; 
and  on  the  origin,  nature,  and  destination  of  Church 


258  Daniel  O'Connell.  ti830- 

property."  The  desirability  of  establishing  a  system 
of  poor-law  relief  in  Ireland  was  one  which  sat  very 
near  the  Bishop's  heart,  but  on  this  point  he  had 
hitherto  had  the  misfortune  to  differ  from  O'Connell, 
who,  in  his  examination  before  the  Committee  of  the 
House  of  Commons,  in  1825,  had  denounced  the  pro- 
ject as  tending  to  pauperise  and  demoralise  the 
nation.  It  was,  therefore,  an  agreeable  surprise  for 
the  Bishop  to  receive  from  him  a  letter  beginning  — 

"  My  Lord,  you  have  convinced  me — Your  pamphlet 
on  the  necessity  of  making  a  legal  provision  for  the 
destitute  Irish  poor  has  completely  convinced  me.  The 
candour  and  distinctness  with  which  you  state  the 
arguments  against  that  provision,  and  the  clear  and 
satisfactory  manner  in  which  you  have  answered  and 
refuted  those  arguments,  have  quite  overpowered  my  ob- 
jections, and  rendered  me  an  unwilling,  but  not  the  less 
sincere,  convert  to  your  opinions." 

In  his  "  Letter  "  Doyle  had  suggested  the  abolition 
of  tithes  and  the  substitution  for  it  of  a  land  tax  not 
exceeding  one-tenth  of  the  value  of  the  land.  The 
produce  of  this  tax  and  the  Church  lands,  placed  at 
the  disposal  of  the  Parliamentary  Commissioners, 
would  enable  them  to  provide  amply  for  the  support 
of  the  poor,  and  to  promote  works  of  public  necessity 
or  national  improvement.  O'Connell  adopted  his 
suggestion,  with  certain  modifications. 

"  We  must,"  he  wrote,  "  come  forward  at  once.  The 
people  must  be  fed.  The  tithes  do  certainly  afford  a 
great  and  natural  resource,  or  rather  a  crown  rent.  As  a 
national  commutation  of  tithes,  less,  much  less,  than  the 
tenth  of  the  fair  rent-roll  will  be  abundantly  sufficient  ; 


1832]     Parliamentary  Reform  and  Tithes.   259 

in  fact,  the  one-half  of  the  actual  weight  of  the  tithes. 
Next,  the  estates  of  the  absentees  should  bear  a  double 
proportion  of  this  crown  rent,  or  land  tax.  Indeed,  a 
treble  proportion  would  be  but  strict  justice." 

Parliament  had  hardly  met  before  the  necessity  of 
tithe  legislation,  in  some  shape  or  form,  became  ap- 
parent. In  June,  resistance  to  the  payment  of  tithes 
led  to  an  armed  conflict  between  the  peasantry  and 
yeomanry  at  Newtownbarry,  in  county  Wexford, 
when  eighteen  persons  lost  their  lives,  and  many 
more  were  wounded.  The  "  massacre  "  made  a  deep 
impression  on  the  popular  mind,  and  the  sorrow 
and  indignation  it  awakened  found  expression  in 
verse  which,  if  crude  in  form,  was  pregnant  enough 
with  passion : 

"  The  balls  of  the  yeomanry  flew  far  and  wide, 
The  maidens  plunged,  shrieking,  in  Slaney's  red  tide, 
And  the  blood  of  the  peasantry  gush'd  o'er  the  turf. 
As  their  lips  foamed  in  death,  like  the  rock-beating 
surf. 

"  And  there  lay  the  mother,  distorted  and  pale  — 
Yet   her  butchers  were  praised    by   the  Warder  and 

Mail ; 
For  our  judges  are  silent,  and  justice  unknown. 
Though  the  dark  tale  of  carnage  o'er  Europe  hath 

flown. 

"  And  the  widows  of  Wexford  are  loud  in  their  wail. 
And    curse    the  proud   priesthood    of    Mammon    and 

Baal: 
For  the  poor  and  the  guiltless  by  bigotry's  sword 
Were  murdered  for  tithe  —  in  the  name  of  the  Lord." 


26o  Daniel  O'Conneii.  [1830- 

"  The  Newtownbarry  afifair,"  wrote  Bishop  Doyle,  a 
week  or  two  after  the  sad  event,  "  was  a  certain,  if  not 
necessary,  eflfect  of  the  proceedings  of  Government  with 
respect  to  the  magistracy,  the  constabulary,  and  yeomen. 
Last  Christmas,  when  Mr.  O'Connell  was  forcing  Gov- 
ernment to  adopt  strong  measures,  you  recollect  how  I 

besought  Mr.  Stanley  and  the  friends  of   Lord  D 

to  send  here  a  few  regiments  of  the  English  militia,  if 
necessary,  to  strengthen  the  military,  and  not  to  call  out 
the  Orange  party  in  the  person  of  the  yeomanr}'.  But 
at  that  time  they  feared  O'Connell  over  much,  and  pre- 
cipitated themselves  into  new  difficulties  of  greater  and 
more  lasting  magnitude.  They  made  themselves  the 
debtors  of  a  party  with  whom  they  should  have  no  con- 
nexion, and  thereby  committed  themselves  to  sustain  old 
abuses,  to  oppose  the  just  wishes  of  the  people  and  of 
the  enlightened  public,  and  here  they  are  now,  pampered 
with  a  magistracy  as  ignorant  and  corrupt  as  can  well  be 
conceived,  and  which  they  fear  too  much  ;  with  a  con- 
stabulary and  yeomanry  all  Orange,  who  hate  the  gov- 
ernment with  all  their  heart  and  soul,  and  take  their 
instructions  more  from  Lord  Famham  and  his  associ- 
ates than  from  Lord  Anglesey  or  his  colleagues  in 
office.  These  armed  banditti,  urged  by  their  leaders, 
are  at  this  moment  using  every  possible  exertion  to  ex- 
cite the  people  to  insurrection,  thereby  to  defeat  the 
Ministry  and  Reform ;  whilst  the  mass  of  the  people 
have  resigned  all  confidence  in  Government,  as  if 
leagued  with  their  inveterate  foes,  and  are  at  this  mo- 
ment more  liable  to  be  led  astray  than  they  were  at  any 
period  these  ten  years  past,  if  some  Mr.  O'Connell  ap- 
peared to  merely  give  a  direction  to  their  passions. 
This  is  the  real  state  of  Ireland  now,  so  far  as  the  ad- 
ministration of  its  afifairs  and  the  temper  of  the  people 


k 


1832]      Parliameyitary  Reform  and  Tithes.   261 

compose  its  state  ;  and  I  need  not  add  that  order  can 
never  arise  out  of  such  a  state  of  things.  As  to  trusting 
to  the  ordinary  course  of  law  for  redress  of  wrongs,  etc., 
it  is  a  weakness  approaching  to  fatuity.  There  is  not  a 
sheriff  in  Ireland  who  is  not  too  strong  for  the  judges  of 
assize.  Even  the  assistant  barristers  cannot  do  justice 
in  the  smallest  things  where  party-spirit  enters  ;  nor  are 
they  all  inclined  to  act  justly  ;  and  as  for  the  magis- 
trates, their  corruption,  like  the  wisdom  of  Solomon, 
surpasses  all  that  has  been  told  of  it.  I  assure  you  that 
even  in  this  country  it  is  quite  shocking." 

The  Irish  government  answered  the  refusal  to  pay 
tithes  with  the  threat  of  an  Arms  Bill,  which  would 
have  delivered  over  the  Irish  peasantry,  bound  hand 
and  foot,  to  the  tender  mercies  of  the  Orangemen. 
The  proposal,  however,  met  with  a  cool  reception  in 
Parliament,  and  O'Connell  had  little  diflficulty  in 
knocking  it  on  the  head.  But  he  failed  to  persuade 
the  House  to  consent  to  disarm  the  yeomanry,  and 
was  unsuccessful  in  obtaining  any  material  alteration 
in  the  Irish  Reform  Bill.  In  September  his  health 
broke  down,  and  for  three  weeks  his  attendance  in 
the  House  was  restricted  to  an  hour  or  two  daily. 
He,  however,  supported  Lord  Ebrington's  motion  of 
confidence  in  the  ministry  on  loth  October,  and  the 
latter  having  trouble  enough  on  hand  in  England 
tried  to  sound  him,  through  Sir  Henry  Parnell  and 
Bishop  Doyle,  as  to  the  possibility  of  inducing  him 
to  refrain  from  renewing  his  agitation  of  Repeal. 
His  popularity  in  Ireland  was  at  its  zenith.  He 
could,  the  Bishop  asserted,  have  little  difficulty  in 
getting  twenty  or  thirty  thousand  pounds  from  the 


262  Daniel  O'Connell.  [1830- 

country,  and  it  was  doubtful  if  he  would  surrender 
popularity  and  emolument  for  anything  ministers 
could  offer  him.  But  if  O'Connell  refused  to  im- 
pair his  popularity  by  countenancing  a  rumour  — 
apparently  well-founded  —  that  the  attorney-general- 
ship of  Ireland  was  at  his  disposal,  he  did  not  de- 
cline what  was  due  to  him  as  a  lawyer,  and  accepted 
a  patent  of  precedence  at  the  Irish  Bar  offered  to 
him  through  Lord  Duncannon.  Believing,  too,  in 
the  sincerity  of  the  promises  that  the  ministry  were 
willing  to  try  "  a  change  of  system  "  in  the  govern- 
ment of  Ireland,  even  to  the  extent  of  "  promoting 
ofT "  Anglesey  and  Stanley,  he  agreed  to  confine 
himself  to  Reform  until  the  Bill  was  carried.  At 
the  same  time,  however,  he  pointed  out  that  the 
state  of  affairs  might  be  rendered  worse  than  pre- 
carious unless  the  promised  change  of  system  com- 
menced immediately.  The  past  might  easily  be 
buried  in  oblivion  if  means  were  taken  to  satisfy  the 
people  of  Ireland  that  some  practical  good  might  be 
expected.  But  if  it  was  imagined  safe  to  delay  giv- 
ing proofs  of  a  change,  he  could  only  assure  those 
who  thought  so  that  they  would  find  themselves 
sadly  mistaken. 

Two  months  elapsed.  Anglesey  and  Stanley  still 
continued  at  their  posts,  and  not  the  slightest  sign  of 
a  change  of  system  had  been  given.  Meanwhile,  the 
state  of  affairs  had  grown  worse.  True,  there  was 
nothing  in  Ireland  to  compare  with  the  riots  that 
were  taking  place  at  the  same  time  in  England  ;  but 
the  tithe  difficulty  remained,  and  at  Carrickshock,  in 
county  Kilkenny,  there  had  recently  been  another 


i 


1832]      Parliamentary  Reform  and  Tithes.   263 

collision  between  the  peasantry  and  the  process 
servers,  in  which  eighteen  of  the  latter  had  been 
killed.  The  distress  of  the  country  was  appalling. 
"Ireland,"  O'Connell  wrote  bitterly  to  Lord  Dun- 
cannon  in  December,  "  is  sinking  into  decrepitude. 
In  Cork,  in  three  parishes  alone  there  are  27,000 
paupers."  The  misery  and  the  wretchedness  of  the 
people — famine-stricken,  misgoverned,  harassed  by 
Orangemen  and  tithe-proctors,  and  trembling  at 
the  approach  of  a  new  and  deadly  disease,  the 
cholera,  —  preyed  upon  him  day  and  night.  If  only 
he  could  induce  Irishmen  of  all  sects  and  persua- 
sions to  unite  for  the  common  good  of  their  country  ! 
Nothing,  nothing,  he  felt,  could  be  done  until  they 
had  recovered  the  management  of  their  own  affairs. 
People  talked  to  him  of  poor  laws.  The  arguments 
and  eloquence  of  Bishop  Doyle  had  wrung  a  reluc- 
tant acquiescence  in  their  necessity  from  him.  But 
after  all,  what  was  the  good  of  poor-law  relief  ?  The 
real  grievance  lay  elsewhere,  and  so  long  as  Ireland 
groaned  under  the  incubus  of  the  Union,  so  long  as 
good  government  was  denied  it,  how  could  any  pro- 
gress be  made  ?  Would  poor  laws  help  to  develop 
the  country,  make  Irishmen  more  self-reliant  and 
more  independent?  Would  they  prevent  these  con- 
stantly recurring  periods  of  famine  and  distress, 
ward  off  the  cholera,  or  secure  to  the  labourer  the 
just  fruits  of  his  labour?  It  was  not  charity  Irish- 
men wanted,  but  good  government.  Ireland  was 
big  enough  and  capable  enough  to  support  her  eight 
millions  of  inhabitants.  The  weak,  the  aged,  the 
infirm,  the  widow,  and  the  orphan,  they  would  always 


264  Daniel  O'  Connell.  [1830- 

have  with  them  ;  for  these  provision  could  be  made. 
But  a  nation  with  the  resources  of  a  country  like 
Ireland  does  not  want  alms.  A  poor  law  !  Yes. 
But  a  poor  law  for  the  whole  nation  —  the  restora- 
tion of  her  domestic  legislature  —  that  was  what 
was  wanted. 

His  renunciation  of  the  poor  laws  brought  him 
into  open  conflict  with  Bishop  Doyle.  But  he  had 
made  up  his  mind,  and  neither  the  sarcasm  nor  the 
logic  of  his  adversary  could  move  him.  He  would 
make  another  effort  to  unite  Irishmen  on  a  common 
platform  :  he  would  demand  justice  in  the  shape  of 
good  government  from  a  Reformed  Parliament,  and 
if  it  was  refused  he  would  raise  the  standard  of 
Repeal.  Availing  himself,  accordingly,  of  a  sugges- 
tion made  by  Henry  Grattan,  junior,  he  started  a 
National  Political  Union,  for  placing  Ireland  upon 
a  basis  of  equality  of  franchise  and  privilege  with 
England.  The  society  served  the  double  purpose 
of  furnishing  a  counterpoise  to  the  Trades  Political 
Union,  which  under  its  president,  Marcus  Costello, 
went  at  times  too  quick,  at  other  times  too  slow,  for 
him,  and  of  providing  him  with  a  means  of  keeping 
in  touch  with  the  nation. 

Parliament  met  on  6th  December.  The  third 
Reform  Bill  was  read  in  the  Commons,  a  second 
time,  and  committees  of  both  Houses  were  appointed 
to  inquire  into  the  tithe  laws.  It  reassembled  after 
the  Christmas  vacation  on  17th  January,  1832.  On 
8th  February  O'Connell  presented  a  petition  from 
Waterford  complaining  of  the  tithe  system.  Gov- 
ernment expressed  its  determination  to  enforce  the 


1832]     Parliamentary  Reform  and  Tithes.   265 

law;  but  the  statement  was  somewhat  mitigated  by 
the  appearance,  a  few  days  afterwards,  of  the  reports 
of  both  Houses  pointing  to  a  complete  extinction  of 
tithes,  in  the  interests  of  the  Church,  and  the  lasting 
welfare  of  Ireland.  "  The  tithes,"  O'Connell  wrote 
to  Fitzpatrick  on  nth  February,  "are  given  up. 
Depend  on  this."  The  announcement  proved  some- 
what premature.  In  March  he  returned  to  Ireland, 
being  specially  retained  at  the  Cork  Spring  Assizes, 
in  the  case  of  Kearney  v.'Sarsfield  to  try  the  validity 
of  the  will  of  Thomas  Rochford.  His  arrival  in  Cork 
was  made  the  occasion  of  a  great  Repeal  demonstra- 
tion. The  enthusiasm  of  the  people  delighted  him. 
"  There  never  was,"  he  wrote,  "  such  a  scene  as  we 
had  yesterday.  It  is  impossible  to  form  an  idea  of 
it  without  having  been  a  spectator.  It  beat  all  the 
processions  I  ever  witnessed  all  to  nothing.  It  is 
decisive  of  Repeal."  During  his  absence,  Stanley 
introduced  a  Bill  to  enforce  the  recovery  of  tithe 
arrears.  It  speedily  became  law ;  but  proved,  as 
was  predicted  of  it,  worse  than  useless,  and  later  in 
the  session  the  composition  of  tithes  was  made 
universal  and  compulsory.  But  all  interest  in  the 
proceedings  of  Parliament  had  by  that  time  expired. 
Its  days  were  numbered.  On  7th  June,  the  royal 
assent  had  been  given  by  commission  to  the  Reform 
Bill,  and  Parliament,  having  been  prorogued  on  i6th 
August,  was  formally  dissolved  on  3rd  December. 
Men's  thoughts  were  fixed  on  the  future. 


CHAPTER  XII. 

THE   WHIGS  AND   COERCION. 
1832-1835. 

O 'CONN ELL  returned  to  Ireland  towards  the 
latter  end  of  July.     He  had  for  some  time 
been  feeling  far  from  well,  and  suffered  much 
from  sleeplessness ;  but  the  bracing  air  of  Darrynane 
soon   restored  him  to   his  usual  state  of  buoyant 
health. 

"You  will  be  happy  to  hear,"  he  wrote  on  nth  Aug- 
ust to  his  friend  Fitzpatrick,  "  that  my  health  is  —  blessed 
be  God  !  —  quite  restored.  There  never  was  so  great  a 
change  in  the  tone  of  animal  functions  in  any  man  within 
so  short  a  period.  I  enjoy  my  mountain  hunting  on  foot 
as  much  as  ever  I  did,  and  expect,  with  the  help  of  God, 
to  be  quite  prepared  for  as  vigorous  a  winter  campaign 
as  ever  I  carried  on.     It  is  quite  necessary." 

Of  the  necessity,  indeed,  of  doing  something  to 
put  an  end  to  the  terrible  tithe  war,  that  was  rag- 
ing with  unabated  fury,  there  could  not  be  the 
slightest  question.     But  how  was  this  to  be  done? 

266 


[1832-1835]     The  Whigs  and  Coercion.  267 

The  committees  of  both  Houses  appointed  to  in- 
quire into  the  matter  had  suggested  the  complete 
extinction  of  tithes  as  the  only  solution  likely  to  sat- 
isfy the  Irish  peasantry.  The  Irish  government,  far 
from  adopting  the  suggestion,  determined  to  enforce 
the  payment  of  them.  They  succeeded  in  collect- 
ing ^12,000  of  arrears,  at  a  cost  of  ;^  14,000  and  con- 
siderable loss  of  life.  Driven  from  this  position, 
they  passed  a  compulsory  tithe  composition  bill,  as 
if  it  was  the  mode  in  which  the  clergy  of  the  Estab- 
lished Church  were  to  be  paid,  and  not  the  payment 
itself,  that  had  revolted  the  people.  O'Connell 
advised  their  extinction,  and  the  compensation  of 
existing  Protestant  incumbents.  His  advice  was  de- 
spised, notwithstanding  a  pointed  allusion  to  Lord 
Milton's  refusal  to  pay  taxes  till  the  Reform  Bill 
was  passed.  The  difficulty  continuing,  he  addressed 
a  letter  to  the  National  Political  Union  on  the  sub- 
ject.    The  letter  concluded  : 

"  First,  I  am  determined  never  again  voluntarily  to 
pay  tithes  ;  second,  I  am  determined  never  again  volun- 
tarily to  pay  vestry  cess  ;  third,  I  am  determined  never 
to  buy  one  single  article  sold  for  tithes  or  vestry  cess. 
Such  are  my  three  individual  resolutions  ;  let  every  other 
man  act  as  he  pleases.  I  have  made  up  my  mind  to  this 
course.  I  will  not  oppose  the  law:  let  it  take  its  course  ; 
but  I  decline  paying  to  or  buying  from  tithe  proctors." 

The  doctrine  of  passive  resistance,  thus  clearly 
enunciated,  found  plenty  of  adherents.  As  time 
went  on,  the  struggle  between  the  Government  and 
the  peasantry  became  more  and  more  acute.  Coer- 
cion, instead  of  curing  the  disease,  merely  drove  it 


268  Daniel  O' Connell. 


[1832- 


inwards.  Tithe  prosecutions  multiplied  ;  so  did 
agrarian  outrages.  The  refusal  to  abolish  tithes  had 
resulted  in  a  revival  of  "  Whiteboyism,"  and  for  this 
result  the  Irish  government  must  be  held  responsible. 
Meanwhile,  from  his  retreat  at  Darrynane,  O'Con- 
nell  threw  off  letter  after  letter  —  thirty  in  all  — 
denouncing  the  government  of  Anglesey  and  Stan- 
ley, demanding  the  abolition  of  tithes,  and  preach- 
ing the  repeal  of  the  Union  as  the  only  adequate 
remedy  for  Irish  grievances.  In  October  he  was 
specially  retained  at  the  Cork  Assizes,  in  connection 
with  certain  trials  arising  out  of  the  agrarian  dis- 
pute, and  it  was  not  until  the  following  month  that 
he  was  able  to  repair  to  Dublin  in  order  to  take  part  in 
the  impending  electoral  struggle.  His  popularity  was 
unbounded.  As  he  walked  through  the  streets,  people 
rushed  to  their  doors  to  have  a  better  look  at  him, 
or  followed  him  in  little  knots  at  a  respectful  dis- 
tance. Later  in  the  month,  he  made  a  rousing 
speech  at  the  Political  Union,  urging  the  electors 
everywhere  to  exact  a  repeal  pledge  from  their  can- 
didates. His  advice  was  followed  to  the  very  letter. 
No  matter  who  the  candidate,  no  matter  what  his 
claims,  he  was  instantly  rejected  if  he  refused  the 
pledge.  The  fact  naturally  detracted  from  the  indi- 
vidual importance  of  those  composing  "  O'Connell's 
tail,"  as  his  followers  were  half-humorously,  half- 
sneeringly  nicknamed,  but  at  least  it  promised  to 
ensure  fidelity  on  the  main  point.  Of  the  hundred 
and  five  members  allotted  to  Ireland,  eighty-five 
were  returned  in  the  Liberal  interest,  and  of  these 
eighty-five  more  than  half  were  pledged  Repealers. 


AN   EXTRAORDINARY   ANIMAL. 
FROM   A   PRINT  IN   THE  BRITISH   MUSEUM. 


1835]  The  Whigs  and  Coercion.  269 

Five  were  members  of  O'Connell's  own  family  —  the 
"  Household  Brigade,"  as  they  were  called  ;  com- 
prising his  three  sons,  Maurice,  Morgan,  and  John, 
and  his  two  sons-in-law,  Christopher  Fitzsimon,  and 
Charles  O'Connell,  of  Bahoss.  His  own  unsolicited 
return  for  Dublin  City  he  regarded  "  as  perhaps  the 
greatest  triumph  my  countrymen  have  yet  given  me." 
Parliament  did  not  meet  till  5th  February,  1833. 
The  condition  of  the  country,  in  the  meantime,  was 
appalling.  During  the  past  twelve  months,  not  less 
than  nine  thousand  agrarian  outrages,  of  which  two 
hundred  were  homicides,  had  occurred.  In  several 
counties,  in  Kilkenny  and  Queen's  county  especially, 
the  authority  of  the  law  had  practically  ceased  to 
exist.  Jurors  would  not  convict,  murders  were  rife, 
and  intimidation  almost  universal.  Even  O'Connell, 
while  insisting  on  the  immediate  removal  of  Angle- 
sey and  Stanley  as  the  only  means  of  restoring  pub- 
lic confidence,  had  sadly  to  admit,  and  even  to  urge, 
the  necessity  of  exceptional  measures  being  taken. 

"  My  Lord,"  he  wrote  to  Lord  Duncannon  on  14th 
January,  *'  you  are  the  only  person  connected  with  power 
to  whom  I  could  write  what  I  know  and  what  I  believe, 
and  indeed,  I  should  not  feel  at  rest  if  I  did  not  tell  you 
that  the  Government  cannot  appreciate  the  exact  state  of 
this  country.  Stanley  has  had  considerable  success  in 
enforcing  the  Tithes.  He  has  overawed  many,  very 
many  parishes,  and  there  was  an  adequate  force  for  that 
purpose  ;  but  the  result  is  just  what  those  who  know  Ire- 
land foresaw — the  spirit  which  is  curbed  by  day  walks 
abroad  by  night.  '  Whiteboyism  '  is  substituted  for  open 
meetings.       There  is   an  almost    universal    organisation 


270  Daniel  O'Cofinell.  [1832- 

going  on.  It  is,  I  repeat,  almost  universal.  I  do  not  believe 
there  is  any  man  in  the  rank  of  a  comfortable  farmer  en- 
gaged— not  one  man  probably  entitled  to  vote.  But  all 
the  poverty  of  our  counties  is  being  organised.  There 
never  yet  was,  as  I  believe,  so  general  a  disposition  for 
that  species  of  insurrectionary  outrages.  We  will  do  all 
we  can  to  check  it.  I  believe  that  we  will  keep  the 
county  of  Meath  free,  because  we  have  a  County  Club  in 
operation — persons  in  whom  the  people  have  confidence, 
and  whose  advice  they  will  be  likely  to  follow.  You  may 
be  quite  sure  that,  if  I  were  not  convinced  of  the  fright- 
ful extent  of  the  impending  mischief,  I  would  not  trouble 
you.  All  I  can  add  in  the  way  of  advice  is — that  the  more 
troops  are  sent  over  here  the  better.  In  every  point  of 
view,  it  is  best  to  increase  the  King's  troops.  If  the  Yeo- 
manry are  called  out,  the  consequences  may  be  terrific. 
Avoid  that,  of  all  things  ;  they  will  prove  to  be  weakness, 
not  strength.  I  know  you  will  excuse  me  for  my  cause 
in  troubling  you  at  this  length.  But,  indeed,  you,  who 
are  acquainted  with  the  history  of  Irish  affairs,  must 
have  been  prepared  for  this  result.  The  insanity  of  de- 
livering the  country  to  so  weak  a  man  as  Lord  Anglesey, 
and  so  obstinate  a  maniac  as  Stanley,  is  unequalled,  even 
in  our  annals." 

Early  in  the  forenoon  of  Tuesday,  5th  February, 
O'Connell,  at  the  head  of  his  "  Household  Brigade," 
went  down  to  the  House  of  Commons,  to  be  present 
at  the  opening  of  the  first  reformed  Parliament. 
Taking  his  seat  on  the  second  opposition  bench, 
he  ranged  his  sons  alongside  him  —  a  mark  of 
parental  pride  the  young  men  would  gladly  have 
avoided.  His  hopes  beat  high.  The  wrongs  of  Ire- 
land called  to  Heaven  for  redress.  Surely  the  ministry, 


k 


1835]  The  Whigs  and  Coercion.  271 

which  owed  its  very  existence  to  the  votes  of  the 
Irish  members,  would  seize  the  opportunity  to  heal 
the  breach  which  misgovernment  had  made  in  the 
past  by  the  introduction  of  remedial  measures.  An 
hour  or  two  served  to  dispel  the  fond  illusion.  The 
Speech  from  the  Throne,  after  alluding  to  the  social 
condition  of  Ireland,  where  the  "  spirit  of  insubordin- 
ation and  violence  "  had  "  risen  to  the  most  fearful 
height,"  expressed  the  King's  confidence  in  the  readi- 
ness of  Parliament  "  to  adopt  such  measures  of  salu- 
tary precaution,"  and  to  entrust  him  with  "  such 
additional  powers  as  may  be  found  necessary  for 
controlling  and  punishing  the  disturbers  of  the  public 
peace,  and  for  preserving  the  legislative  union  be- 
tween the  two  countries."  O'Connell's  indignation 
at  the  baseness  of  the  Whigs  was  intense.  Lord  Or- 
melie,  afterwards  Marquis  of  Breadalbane,  in  moving 
the  Address,  had  the  misfortune  to  add  fuel  to  his 
wrath  by  an  unlucky  comparison  between  him  and 
his  fellow-Repealers,  and  "  those  harpies,  or  birds 
of  prey,  who  soared  over  and  watched  the  agonies  of 
their  victim,  ready  to  pierce  their  destructive  talons 
into  its  side."  "  What  a  curse  was  it  for  Ireland," 
O'Connell  bitterly  exclaimed,  "  that  every  popinjay 
you  met  in  the  streets,  who  was  capable  of  uttering 
fifteen  words,  was  sure  to  lard  his  sentences  by  sar- 
casms against  Ireland  !  "  But  it  was  for  Stanley — 
the  real  author  of  "  the  brutal  and  bloody  speech  " — 
that  he  reserved  the  vials  of  his  wrath  —  for  that 
minister,  who,  during  his  brief  tenure  of  office,  had 
accomplished  what  none  of  his  predecessors  had  ever 
done,  and  united  Irishmen  in  a  consensus  of  opinion 


272  Daniel  O' Connell.  ri832- 

as  to  his  incapacity  to  govern  the  country ;  who,  never- 
theless, "  lord  of  the  ascendant,"  dictated  his  measures 
to  the  ministry.  Four  long  nights  the  battle  raged, 
and  then  came  the  division.  O'Connell  moved  to 
refer  the  Address  to  a  committee  of  the  whole 
House ;  he  was  defeated  by  428  votes  to  40.  A 
motion  to  couple  coercion  with  "  a  close  and  diligent 
investigation  into  the  causes  of  discontent  in  Ire- 
land "  shared  a  similar  fate,  and  was  defeated  by  393 
votes  to  60. 

Alas,  for  Ireland  !  Alas  for  the  hopes  which 
Reform  had  raised  !  People  with  a  turn  for  epigram 
called  the  Government's  policy  a  policy  of "  kicks  and 
kindness."  Unfortunately,  the  only  thing  certain 
about  it  was  the  kicks,  of  which  there  were  enough 
and  to  spare.  On  12th  February  Lord  Althorp 
submitted  certain  proposals,  to  be  embodied  in  a 
Bill  for  the  abolition  of  vestry  cess,  the  suppression 
of  a  number  of  bishoprics  and  Church  livings,  and  the 
appropriation  of  the  revenues  thereby  liberated  to 
secular  purposes.  His  proposals  won  O'Connell's 
gratitude.  Perhaps,  after  all,  the  Whigs  were  going 
to  do  something  for  Ireland.  Three  days  afterwards 
Earl  Grey  introduced  a  Bill  into  the  House  of 
Lords  combining  the  provisions  of  the  Proclamation 
Act,  the  Insurrection  Act,  the  partial  application 
of  martial  law,  and  the  partial  suspension  of  the 
Habeas  Corpus  Act.  The  horror  of  it  pierced 
O'Connell  to  the  heart.  Never,  even  while  denounc- 
ing the  Speech  from  the  Throne  as  "  bloody  and 
brutal,"  with  an  emphasis  that  caused  Lord  John 
Russell  to  move  that  his  words  be  taken  down,  had 


e 


1835]  The  Whigs  and  Coercion.  273 

he  anticipated  a  measure  so  drastic  in  its  operation 
as  that  which  Government  now  submitted  to  ParHa- 
ment.  Never,  even  in  the  palmiest  days  of  Tory 
absolutism,  had  such  an  atrocious  attack  against  the 
liberties  of  Ireland  been  committed  as  was  now 
meditated  by  the  Whigs.  And  these  were  their 
friends !  This  the  reward  for  helping  them  to  pass 
Reform  !  "  Do  not  be  alarmed  about  my  health," 
O'Connell  wrote  to  Edward  Dwyer.  "  The  atrocious 
attempt  to  extinguish  public  liberty  with  which 
Ireland  is  menaced  has  made  me  young  again. 
.  Talk  of  a  union,  indeed,  between  the  two  coun- 
tries, after  presuming  to  attempt  to  outlaw  the  in- 
habitants of  one  great  portion  of  the  empire  !  "  So 
intense  was  his  indignation  that,  even  before  the 
Bill  had  been  discussed  in  the  Upper  House,  he 
seized  the  opportunity  which  a  motion  for  supply 
afforded  him  to  warn  Government  against  the  peril- 
ous course  upon  which  they  were  entering.  What, 
he  asked,  was  the  reason  for  a  measure  of  such 
exceptional  severity  ?  Was  a  whole  country  to  be 
outlawed  on  the  mere  ipse  dixit  of  a  minister,  with- 
out further  inquiry  ?  People  charged  him  with  agi- 
tating the  repeal  of  the  Union.  But  ministers  were 
doing  more  than  he  was  to  further  that  object.  For 
himself,  he  would  say,  though  the  admission  might 
be  turned  against  him  in  Ireland,  that  he  had  ever 
been,  and  still  was,  most  attached  to  a  British  con- 
nection. He  was  a  Repealer  ;  but  he  would  prefer 
to  see  justice  done  to  his  countrymen  by  Parliament 
than  by  a  local  legislature ;  and  if  he  thought  that 
the  machinery  of   the   present  Government  would 


274  Daniel  O'Connell.  [1832- 

work  well  for  Ireland,  there  never  lived  a  man  more 
ready  to  facilitate  its  movements  than  himself.  The 
only  reason  he  had  for  being  a  Repealer  was  the 
injustice  of  the  Government  towards  his  country, 
and  the  fact  that  that  Government  must  be  unjust  so 
long  as  it  lacked  proper  and  impartial  information. 
There  was  disorder  in  Ireland ;  outrages  had  oc- 
curred. But  was  a  whole  country  to  be  put  under 
martial  law  for  the  crimes  of  a  few?  The  only 
persons  Government  had  to  fear  —  the  only  per- 
sons he  feared — were  the  Whiteboys.  They,  and 
they  alone,  opposed  resistance  to  the  execution  of 
the  laws,  and  it  was  against  them  alone,  and  not 
against  the  innocent  that  severe  measures  should  be 
directed.  It  was  a  calumny  —  a  deep,  false,  and 
foul  calumny  —  to  assert  that  political  agitation  was 
in  any  way  connected  with  predial  outrage.  But 
the  truth  was,  ministers  had  an  ulterior  purpose  to 
serve  in  asking  for  these  exceptional  powers.  Their 
real  reason  was  to  enforce  the  payment  of  tithes. 
Should  the  Act  pass,  let  any  parish  resist  the  pay- 
ment of  tithes,  and  let  a  cornstack  or  a  haystack  be 
burned  in  that  parish  by  any  —  the  merest — acci- 
dent, and  it  would  be  seen  to  what  the  accident  was 
attributed.  Woe  then  to  such  a  parish  and  woe  to 
the  man  in  it  that  dared  to  refuse  tithes.  For  them 
there  would  be  no  other  mercy  than  the  tender  pity 
of  dragoons  and  marines.  He  besought  the  Re- 
formers of  England  not  to  condemn  Ireland  un- 
heard. He  solicited  inquiry  ;  and  should  the  result 
be  unfavourable,  should  Englishmen  with  a  full 
knowledge  of  the  facts,  think  that  Ireland  ought  to 


I 


1835]  The  Whigs  mid  Coercion.  275 

be  governed  by  such  measures  as  those  proposed,  he 
would  be  the  first  to  say  — "  Let  Ireland  submit." 

But  his  appeal  was  made  in  vain.  Less  than  a 
week  sufficed  to  see  the  Bill  through  the  House  of 
Lords.  Its  fortunes  in  the  Commons  were  more 
chequered,  but  the  result  was  the  same.  On  27th 
February  Lord  Althorp  explained  its  provisions  in  a 
speech  characterised  by  Lord  John  Russell  as  "  tame 
and  ineffective."  A  motion  to  postpone  its  intro- 
duction for  a  fortnight  seemed  likely  to  be  carried. 
The  credit  of  the  Irish  government,  the  fate  of  the 
ministry,  hung  in  the  balance.  Both  were  saved  by 
Stanley.  His  speech  on  that  occasion  is  still  re- 
membered as  one  of  the  greatest  triumphs  ever  won 
in  a  popular  assembly  by  the  power  of  oratory.  But 
it  was  won  by  equivocal  methods  —  by  arts  which, 
however  suitable  to  a  rhetorician,  were  unworthy  of 
a  statesman.  Any  other  man  but  O'Connell  would 
have  been  overwhelmed  by  the  fierce  denunciation, 
the  indignant  scorn,  the  scathing  irony,  with  which 
he  was  assailed.  But  he  was  fighting  for  the  ele- 
mentary liberties  of  his  country,  and  the  attack 
passed  harmlessly  over  him. 

"  I  care  not,"  he  replied,  **  for  personal  attacks.  If  I 
had  not  the  consolation  of  knowing  that  my  intentions 
are  pure  and  disinterested,  and  that  I  am  anxious  only 
for  peace,  good  order  and  freedom — if  I  had  not  the 
comfort  of  my  own  feelings  in  this  respect  —  if  my  con- 
science did  not  approve,  not  of  every  expression,  per- 
haps, but  of  my  motives  —  if  I  did  not  feel  that  my 
motives  are  only  the  warmest  wishes  for  the  increase  of 
human    happiness    and  liberty,   wherever  the  slave    is 


276  Daniel  O'Connell.  n832- 

oppressed,  or  the  oppressor  can  be  found — if  I  had  not 
these  things  to  console  me,  I  might  feel  the  attacks  that 
have  been  made  upon  me." 

But  the  wrongs  of  his  country  had  been  mixed  up 
with  the  attacks  on  him.  Really,  it  was  pitiable  to 
see  the  representatives  of  the  great  and  generous 
people  of  England  legislating  against  a  single  indi- 
vidual. Why  not  save  themselves  that  trouble  ? 
Why  not  banish  him  for  a  year  and  a  half  ?  He 
would  consent  to  it.  They  should  banish  him  on 
condition  that  they  would  not  oppress  his  country. 
Such,  however,  was  the  difficult  position  in  which  he 
was  placed,  that  he  could  not  advise  without  being 
said  to  threaten ;  he  could  not  prophesy  without  be- 
ing taunted  with  provoking  what  he  prophesied. 
He  would  not  advise ;  he  would  not  prophesy ;  he 
would,  however,  say  that  it  was  not  enough  to  show 
that  murders  were  being  committed  in  Ireland  to 
justify  the  suppression  of  the  constitution.  Minis- 
ters must  show  that  the  measure  they  proposed 
would  cure  the  evils  of  which  they  complained. 
They  could  not  show  it.  Coercion  might  produce 
temporary  tranquillity,  but  it  would  be  followed  by 
greater  rancour.  It  would  produce  the  tranquillity 
of  the  grave — a  deathlike  silence,  and  a  dreary  re- 
pose ;  but  not  peace — not  quiet  —  not  confidence. 
Political  agitation  had  nothing  whatever  to  do  with 
predial  outrages.  He  begged  them  to  consider  the 
following  facts.  In  1824  the  Catholic  Association 
was  established.  The  number  of  persons  charged 
with  treasonable  offences  was,  in  1823,  106;  in  1824, 


1835]  The  Whigs  and  Coercion.  i']'j 

I  ;  in  1825,  I  ;  in  1826,  i  ;  in  1827,  none;  in 
1828,  none;  in  1829,  none.  These  were  years  of 
political  agitation  ;  offences  with  violence  decreased 
as  political  agitation  spread.  In  1822  there  were 
499  persons  accused  of  seditious  practices  ;  in  1823, 
424;  in  1824,  121;  in  1825,17;  in  1827,4;  and 
whereas,  for  robbing  of  arms  64  men  were  arraigned 
in  1822,  in  1823  there  were  only  7.  How  could 
they  then  say  that  predial  and  political  agitation 
were  concurrent  ?  Ireland  was  suffering  ;  she  was 
in  distress,  she  was  a-hungry,  and  for  bread  they 
offered  her  a  stone  —  they  gave  her,  instead  of  re- 
medial measures,  an  Act  which  deprived  Irishmen 
of  trial  by  jury,  which  substituted  court-martial, 
which  deprived  them  of  the  Habeas  Corpus  Act, 
and  in  a  word,  imposed  on  each  man  the  necessity 
of  proving  himself  innocent.  Did  they  think  that 
such  measures  would  put  an  end  to  the  agitation 
for  the  repeal  of  the  Union  ?  The  present  genera- 
tion might  perish  ;  coercion  might  destroy  the  ex- 
isting population  ;  but  the  indignant  soul  of  Ireland 
could  not  be  annihilated. 


"  There  was  a  time  when  a  ray  of  hope  dawned  upon 
that  country.  It  was  when  the  present  Parliament  first 
assembled.  We  saw  this  Reformed  House  of  Commons 
congregated.  We  knew  that  every  man  here  had  a  con- 
stituency ;  we  knew  that  the  people  of  England  were 
represented  here  ;  we  knew  that  the  public  voice  not 
only  would  influence  your  decisions,  but  command  your 
votes  ;  we  hoped  that  you  would  afford  us  redress  of 
our  grievances  :  and  you  give  us  an  Act  of  despotism  ! " 


278  Daniel  O'Connell.  [1832- 

Never  did  O'Connell  appear  to  greater  advantage 
in  the  House  of  Commons  ;  never  more  unapproach- 
able in  his  lonely  grandeur,  than  he  did  on  this 
occasion.  Once  before,  when  defending  Magee, 
once  again,  when  addressing  Ireland  from  the  Hill 
of  Tara,  did  he  impress  men  with  his  greatness. 
But  never  again  did  he  occupy  the  position  he  did 
on  this  occasion  in  the  House  of  Commons.  Night 
after  night  saw  him  at  his  post,  in  the  House,  in 
Committee,  ever  watchful,  ever  on  his  guard,  ever 
ready  to  take  advantage  of  the  slightest  slip  on  the 
part  of  the  enemy.  The  versatility  with  which  he  ex- 
changed the  character  of  an  orator  for  that  of  a  plod- 
ding, keen-scented,  practical  lawyer,  was  marvellous. 
No  one  who  saw  him  in  Committee  quietly  criticising 
now  this  now  that  passage,  courteously  suggesting 
some  slight  emendation  in  the  wording  of  it,  which 
would  have  gone  far  to  emasculate  the  Bill,  politely 
answering  the  most  trivial  questions,  could  have 
imagined  that  it  was  the  same  man  who,  a  few 
hours  previously,  had  been  defying  the  oppressors  of 
his  country 

"  Make  your  bondmen  tremble. 
Must  I  observe  you  }     Must  1  stand  and  crouch 
Under  your  testy  humour  ?    By  the  gods  ! 
You  shall  digest  the  venom  of  your  spleen 
Tho'  it  do  split  you." 

Stanley,  in  particular,  found  him  a  formidable  op- 
ponent. No  sooner  was  he  driven  from  one  position 
than  he  entrenched  himself  in  another — fighting 
the  Bill  clause  by  clause,  paragraph  by  paragraph, 


1835]  The  Whigs  and  Coercion.  279 

almost  word  by  word.  A  hostile  House,  a  powerful 
press,  Whiteboys  and  Whitefeet,  more  dangerous 
than  either,  were  arrayed  against  him.  Single- 
handed  he  fought  them  all,  asking  no  assistance, 
and  getting  none.  Even  his  enemies  could  not 
conceal  their  admiration  of  him  as  they  realised  the 
force  of  Cobbett's  epithet  —  "the  member  for  Ire- 
land." Not  his  eloquence,  not  the  sometimes  tawdry 
rags  of  rhetoric  in  which  he  wrapped  his  thoughts, 
was  it  that  made  him  great,  and  forced  men  against 
their  wills  to  listen  to  him,  but  his  earnestness.  It 
was  the  man,  not  his  words,  that  held  them.  One 
thought  alone  possessed  him.  He  knew  nothing, 
cared  for  nothing,  but  Ireland,  and,  looking  on  him, 
men  seemed  to  be  gazing  on  Ireland  personified. 
Again  and  again  the  lines  recurred  to  him : 

"  Oh,  Erin  !     Shall  it  e'er  be  mine 
To  right  thy  wrongs  in  battle  line, 
To  raise  my  victor  head,  and  see. 
Thy  hills,  thy  dales,  thy  people  free  ? 
That  glance  of  bliss  is  all  I  crave 
Between  my  labours  and  the  grave." 

And  the  words  possessed  a  deeper  significance  for 
him  than  for  the  poet  who  wrote  them.  Men  ma- 
ligned him  in  his  life-time ;  they  criticised  him  after 
his  death  ;  but  of  his  love  for  Ireland,  his  patriotism, 
there  is  no  question.  He  may  have  been  mistaken 
in  the  policy  he  advocated  ;  he  was  intemperate  and 
brutal  in  his  language  to  those  who  opposed  him  ; 
but  he  was  so  because  he  regarded  them  as  the 
enemies  of  his  country,  and  his  devotion  to  the  land 


28o  Daniel  O'Connell.  n832- 

of  his  birth  pleads  for  him  and  excuses  him.     Of  him 
it  could  be  said 

"  His  heart  s  his  mouth. 
What  his  breast  forges,  that  his  tongue  must  vent ; 
And,  being  angry,  does  forget  that  ever 
He  heard  the  name  of  death." 

But  his  opposition,  if  it  retarded  the  Bill,  could 
not  prevent  it  becoming  law  early  in  April.  One  or 
two  concessions  were  all  he  could  wring  from  Gov- 
ernment, and  Ireland,  having  been  taught  to  fear,  was 
now,  according  to  rule,  in  a  fit  position  to  have  kind- 
ness administered  to  her.  On  nth  March,  Althorp 
introduced  his  Church  Temporaries  Bill,  of  which 
he  had  given  a  sketch  at  the  beginning  of  the  ses- 
sion ;  but  before  it  had  been  proceeded  with  it  was  dis- 
covered that  all  the  formalities  connected  with  it  had 
not  been  observed.  It  had,  accordingly,  to  be  with- 
drawn, and  it  was  only  on  the  first  of  April  that 
Althorp  was  in  a  position  to  submit  it  to  the  House. 
Its  progress  was  incredibly  slow.  People  had  time 
to  forget  that  it  was,  in  effect,  the  price  of  the  Coer- 
cion Act,  and  when  Stanley,  on  2 1st  June,  moved  to 
omit  the  clause  appropriating  the  revenues  of  the 
suppressed  bishoprics  to  purposes  thought  fit  by  Par- 
liament, the  House  supported  him. 

The  abandonment  of  the  appropriation  principle 
deprived  the  measure  of  all  that  gave  it  vitality,  and 
O'Connell  at  once  repudiated  it  on  behalf  of  Ireland. 
Before,  however,  the  Bill  became  law,  the  situation,  as 
regarded  Ireland,  had  considerably  improved,  render- 
ing it,  in  O'Connell's  opinion,  desirable  to  retain  the 


1835]  The  Whigs  a?id  Coercion.  281 

Whigs  in  office.  First  and  foremost,  Stanley  had 
been  promoted  to  the  Colonial  office.  His  successor, 
overlooking  Sir  John  Cam  Hobhouse,  who  only  held 
office  a  week  or  two,  was  Edward  John  Littleton, 
afterwards  Lord  Hatherton.  The  Church  Tempor- 
alities Bill,  without  satisfying  Ireland,  had  done 
much  to  weaken  the  ministry  in  England.  During 
June  and  July  the  situation  was  extremely  critical; 
everyone  thought  that  the  Grey  administration  was 
tottering  to  its  fall.  Despite  his  dissatisfaction  with 
the  Whigs,  O'Connell  had  no  desire  to  see  the  Tories 
in  power,  and  on  several  occasions  exerted  himself 
conspicuously  on  behalf  of  the  former.  His  exer- 
tions were  not  unrewarded,  and  though  no  actual 
promises  were  held  out  by  Littleton  he  was  given 
to  believe  that  the  press  prosecutions,  instituted  by 
Stanley,  would  be  dropped,  that  his  plan  of  corporate 
reform  would  meet  with  support,  and  that  an  effort 
would  be  made  in  the  direction  of  the  total  abolition 
of  tithes.  Satisfied  with  this  result,  he  was  much  an- 
noyed to  learn  that  his  policy  was  strongly  disap- 
proved of  in  Ireland,  and  that  he  was  being  charged 
with  a  desire  to  postpone  Repeal. 

The  fact  was,  his  admission,  during  the  Coercion 
debate,  that  he  would  prefer  to  see  justice  done  to 
Ireland  by  the  Imperial  Parliament  rather  than  by  a 
domestic  legislature,  had,  as  he  predicted  it  probably 
would,  done  him  considerable  harm. 

"  I  am  bound  in  candour  to  tell  you,"  he  wrote  to 
Fitzpatrick  on  13th  June,  "  that  the  advice  of  my  friends 
in  Dublin  would  not  induce  me  to  consent  to  bring  it 


282  Daniel  O'Connell.  tl832- 

[Repeal]  on  this  session,  because  I  know  that  any  rational 
discussion  upon  it  is  impossible  in  this  advanced  and 
complicated  state  of  the  public  business.  We  should 
have  been  either  deprived  of  a  House  by  members  going 
away,  or  we  should  be  treated  with  contempt  and  ridi- 
cule by  men  who  are  now  thinking  of  nothing  else  save 
escaping  from  London  and  getting  rid  of  the  session." 

A  day  or  two  afterwards  there  was  a  meeting  in 
St.  Audeon's  parish,  Dublin,  at  which  a  resolution 
was  passed  virtually  censuring  him  for  his  inactivity 
in  regard  to  Rep>eal. 

"  I  am  sorry,"  he  wrote  when  he  heard  of  it,  "to  find 
that  eighteen  members  of  St.  Audeon's  parish  should 
have  given  my  enemies  such  a  triumph  over  me.  .  . 
Well  !  well  !  well !  How  idle  it  is  for  every  man  to  expect 
to  be  treated  with  fairness  ?  To  insinuate  that  /  inter- 
pose a  delay  to  carrying  the  Repeal !  " 

But  the  mischief  did  not  stop  here.  The  subject 
was  taken  up  by  the  Freeman  s  Journal  in  Ireland, 
and  by  Feargus  O'Connor  in  London.  Feargus 
O'Connor,  of  Chartist  celebrity,  the  scatter-brained 
son  of  a  still  madder  father,  had  succeeded,  contrary 
to  all  expectation,  in  getting  himself  returned  M.  P. 
for  county  Cork  at  the  last  general  election.  The 
victory  seemed  to  have  turned  the  little  brains  he 
possessed,  and,  conceiving  that  an  opportunity  now 
presented  itself  of  substituting  himself  for  O'Connell 
as  leader  of  the  Irish  party,  he  suddenly  announced 
his  determination  of  moving  the  Repeal  of  the  Union 
on  i6th  July.  Nothing  could  alter  his  resolution, 
and  O'Connell,  feeling  that  the  situation  was  critical, 
summoned  a  meeting  of   his  "  tail."    Opinion   was 


1835]  The  Whigs  and  Coercion.  283 

divided,  and  it  was  only  by  pledging  himself  to  bring 
the  question  before  Parliament  early  in  the  next 
session  that  he  managed  to  stave  off  the  danger  of  a 
premature  debate. 

Naturally  enough,  Feargus  got  plenty  of  applause 
for  his  resolute  conduct  —  some  of  it  sincere,  some 
of  it  for  the  express  purpose  of  setting  the  Irish 
members  by  the  ear.  The  press  joined  in.  The 
London  papers  had  long  "burked"  O'Connell's 
speeches  ;  they  now  began  to  misrepresent  him.  It 
was  not  the  first  time  he  had  complained  of  being 
improperly  reported.  In  Ireland  the  reporters  had 
excused  themselves  on  the  ground  that  he  spoke 
too  rapidly  and  too  long.  The  reporters  of  the 
House  of  Commons  made  no  excuse.  To  O'Con- 
nell's charge  of  "  wilful  misrepresentation  "  they  re- 
plied by  refusing  to  report  him  at  all.  Their  power 
was  very  great  ;  they  boasted  of  having  put  down  a 
Tierney  and  a  Windham,  and  another  man  would 
have  hesitated  before  entering  into  the  lists  with 
them.  But  O'Connell  had  hit  upon  a  plan  to  make 
them  listen  to  reason.  "  If  the  Times  does  not  re- 
port me,  it  shall  not  report  anybody  else,"  he  wrote 
to  Fitzpatrick.  On  26th  July  he  brought  the  mat- 
ter before  the  House,  and,  treating  their  refusal  to 
report  him  as  a  breach  of  privilege,  he  obtained  an 
order  for  the  proprietor  and  printer  of  the  Times  to 
attend  at  the  bar  of  the  House.  His  speech  in  ap- 
plication for  the  order  was  not  reported,  and  three 
days  later  he  moved  that  the  order  for  the  day  for 
their  attendance  at  the  bar  be  read.  He  lost  his 
motion  ;  the  reporters  smiled  at  his  defeat.      But  he 


284  Daniel  O'Connell.  [1832- 

had  still  his  trump  card  to  play.  Hardly  had  the 
Speaker  taken  the  chair  than  he  said,  "  I  think,  Sir, 
I  see  strangers  in  the  gallery."  A  minute  or  two 
afterwards  not  a  stranger,  not  a  reporter,  was  to  be 
seen  in  the  House.  Next  morning  people  scanned 
the  papers  anxiously  to  see  what  had  taken  place. 
Not  a  line,  not  a  word,  of  what  had  happened  was  to 
be  found  in  them.  The  victory  was  won  ;  the  day 
following  the  reporters  surrendered. 

Before  the  session  came  to  an  end,  O'Connell  re- 
turned with  his  family  to  Ireland.  His  health,  not- 
withstanding the  strain  placed  upon  it  of  almost 
seven  months'  close  and  unremitting  labour,  had 
never,  he  declared,  been  better ;  but  he  needed  rest, 
and  longed  for  the  fresh  sea  breezes  of  Darrynane. 
Replying  to  an  invitation  to  a  banquet  at  Cork,  that 
reached  him  shortly  after  his  return,  he  begged  his 
friends  to  postpone  for  a  time  the  honour  they 
wished  to  show  him. 

"  I  want,"  he  wrote,  "  the  calm  and  quiet  of  my  loved 
native  hills  —  the  bracing  air,  purified  as  it  comes  over 
'the  world  of  waters,'  the  cheerful  exercise,  the  majestic 
scener)',  of  these  awful  mountains,  whose  wildest  and 
most  romantic  glens  are  awakened  by  the  enlivening  cry 
of  my  merry  beagles,  whose  deep  notes,  multiplied  one 
million  times  by  the  echoes,  speak  to  my  senses  as  if  it 
were  the  voice  of  magic  powers  commingling  with  the 
eternal  roar  of  the  mighty  Atlantic,  that  breaks  and 
foams  with  impotent  rage  at  the  foot  of  our  stupendous 
cliffs." 

Above  all,  he  wanted  time  to  prepare  himself  for 


1835]  The  Whigs  and  Coercion.  285 

the  great  Repeal  effort  he  had  promised  to  make  in 
the  following  session,  and  he  had  hardly  been  a 
week  at  Darrynane  before  he  instructed  Fitzpatrick 
to  send  him  every  book  on  Irish  history  that  he 
could  lay  his  hands  on.  "  You  cannot,"  he  wrote, 
"  send  me  down  too  much  Irish  history."  He  had 
already,  in  a  "  Letter  to  the  People  of  Ireland,"  on 
the  first  of  July,  expounded  his  plan  of  action  to 
procure  as  many  petitions  as  possible  for  the  repeal 
of  the  Union,  to  conciliate  Protestant  opinion  in  Ire- 
land, and  to  prepare  the  popular  mind  in  England 
and  Scotland  for  the  discussion  of  the  question,  by 
showing  them  that  Repeal  did  not  mean  separation, 
but  directly  the  reverse  ;  "  my  political  creed  being, 
that  the  best  possible  political  revolution  is  not 
worth  one  single  drop  of  human  blood."  Brave 
words  !  But  the  burden  of  the  Coercion  Act,  and 
the  practical  suspension  of  the  agitation  since  the 
general  election,  had  completely  damped  the  popular 
enthusiasm  for  Repeal.  O'Connell's  own  attitude, 
too,  was  equivocal  ;  rumour  persistently  ascribed  to 
him  an  intention  of  joining  the  ministry,  and  though 
he  gave  it  an  unqualified  denial,  people  did  not  be- 
lieve him  to  be  in  earnest.  The  indifference  of  the 
public  reacted  on  him. 

"  May  not,"  he  wrote  in  confidence  to  Fitzpatrick, 
Repeal  be  dispensed  with,  if  we  get  beneficial  meas- 
ures without  it  ?  This  is  a  serious  question,  and  one 
upon  which  good  men  may  well  differ  ;  but  it  is  my 
duty  to  make  up  my  mind  upon  it,  and  I  have  made  up 
my  mind  accordingly  —  that  there  can  be  no  safety,  no 


286  Daniel  O'Cofmell. 


[1832- 


pennanent  prosperity  in  Ireland,  without  a  repeal  of 
the  Union." 

Towards  the  latter  end  of  September,  Lord  Angle- 
sey, exhausted  with  his  vain  efforts  to  recover  his 
popularity,  surrendered  the  reins  of  government  to 
the  Marquis  of  Wellesley,  who  thus  became,  for  the 
second  time,  Viceroy  of  Ireland.  O'Connell  improved 
the  occasion  by  administering  a  final  kick  to  the  de- 
parting governor,  and  by  advising  his  countrj'-men  to 
confide  in  the  good  intentions  of  his  successor.  The 
advice  was  a  feeble  substitute  for  the  expected  sum- 
mons to  rally  round  the  standard  of  Repeal.  But 
O'Connell,  truth  to  say,  was  not  in  a  fighting  humour. 
He  was  drifting,  he  knew  not  exactly  whither  ;  hop- 
ing he  knew  not  exactly  for  what — one  day  sanguine, 
the  next  despondent.  *'  There  is  a  lull  in  politics 
just  now,"  he  wrote  to  Fitzpatrick  on  20th  Septem- 
ber, "  but  the  land  breeze  will  soon  spring  up,  and 
we  shall  have  a  stiff  gale  before  we  are  much  older. 
I  pause  to  obtain  Protestant  aid."  Weeks  passed 
away  without  any  sign  of  the  weather  freshening. 
The  calm  told  on  O'Connell's  nerves.  "  I  am  per- 
haps," he  wrote  on  31st  October,  "out  of  spirits, 
unjustly  or  without  cause,  but  I  feel  a  sense  of  deser- 
tion of  me,  when  I  ought  not.  .  .  .  What  alarms 
me  principally  is  that,  although  I  see  some  newspaper 
puffs,  I  do  not  see  anywhere,  save  in  Cork,  the  organ- 
isation which  could  promise  success."  Worse  fol- 
lowed. He  had  been  led  to  believe  that  the  press 
prosecutions  instituted  by  Stanley  would  be  aban- 
doned by  Littleton.  His  belief  proved  unfounded. 
In  November,  Richard  Barrett,  editor  of  the  Pilots 


1835]  The  Whigs  and  Coercion.  287 

was  tried  in  Dublin  for  publishing  a  letter  of  O'Con- 
nell's,  alleged  to  be  libellous.  O'Connell,  as  in  hon- 
our bound,  undertook  his  defence.  It  was  some 
relief  to  vent  his  indignation  against  "  the  vile  cozen- 
ing Whigs"  in  a  speech  infinitely  more  libellous  than 
that  complained  of.  But  the  jury,  wholly  Tory  and 
Orange  in  sentiment,  while  they  relished  his  fierce 
tirade  against  their  political  opponents,  were  alive 
to  their  own  interests,  and  convicted  Barrett,  with 
hardly  the  ceremony  of  a  consultation. 

Never,  perhaps,  had  O'Connell  passed  a  more  mis- 
erable Christmas ;  but  the  weary  recess  came  at  last 
to  an  end,  and  the  first  day  of  the  new  session  found 
him  in  his  accustomed  seat  in  St.  Stephen's.  The 
Speech  from  the  Throne  called  attention  to  and  dep- 
recated, "  with  feelings  of  deep  regret  and  just  indig- 
nation, the  continuance  of  attempt^  to  excite  the 
people  of  Ireland  to  demand  a  repeal  of  the  legisla- 
tive union."  O'Connell  moved  the  omission  of  the 
obnoxious  paragraph,  but  was  defeated  by  189  to  23 
votes.  It  was  a  bad  omen  for  the  success  of  the 
Repeal  debate,  to  which  he  had  promised  to  treat  the 
House  later  on  in  the  session.  "  I  find  the  House  of 
Commons,"  he  wrote  on  7th  February,  "  more  intol- 
erant of  Ireland  than  it  was  last  session  — hating  us 
more  —  more  disposed  to  do  us  mischief.  It  is  a 
disposition  which  will  evince  itself  in  some  overt 
acts  before  this  session  is  over."  The  situation  was, 
in  fact,  disheartening.  The  thought  of  the  speech 
he  had  to  make  weighed  upon  him  like  a  nightmare. 
During  the  recess  he  had  been  studying  Irish  history, 
but  only  to  find  that  the  more  he  studied  it  the  less 


288  Daniel  O' Coniiell.  [1832- 

he  knew  about  it.  "  The  first  display  in  Parliament 
on  the  Repeal  question,"  he  had  written  on  nth 
October,  "  is  one  which,  to  do  it  justice,  would  re- 
quire months  of  seclusion."  As  the  fatal  day,  the 
22nd  of  April,  approached,  his  nervousness  grew 
upon  him.  "  I  feel  lonely,"  he  wrote  to  Fitzpatrick. 
"  I  can  make  but  little — miserably  little  of  my  sub- 
ject. Would  to  God  it  were  in  abler  hands."  At 
the  beginning  of  April  he  took  a  week's  holiday  on 
the  south  coast,  visiting  Canterbury  cathedral,  and 
finding  some  spiritual  consolation  in  contemplating 
the  spot  where  Thomas  a  Becket  was  murdered. 
But  the  thought  of  his  speech  preyed  upon  him 
night  and  day.  Had  it  been  possible,  he  would 
gladly  have  withdrawn  from  his  undertaking;  but  he 
was  pledged  to  bring  the  subject  before  Parliament, 
and  withdrawal,  he  knew  well,  would  be  more  fatal 
than  defeat. 

"  I  never,"  he  wrote  on  9th  April,  "  felt  half  so  nervous 
about  anything  as  I  do  about  my  Repeal  effort.  It  will 
be  my  worst.  I  sink  beneath  the  load.  My  materials 
are  confused,  and  totally  without  arrangement.  .  .  . 
It  is  quite  true,  I  have  often  desponded  before  a  public 
exertion  and  afterwards  succeeded,  but  this  cannot  now 
be  the  case.    I  feel,  for  the  first  time  overpowered" 

His  fears  proved  not  altogether  groundless,  though 
the  fault  was  more  in  his  subject  than  in  himself. 
Rising  to  move  the  appointment  of  a  committee  to 
inquire  into  and  report  on,  the  means  by  which  the 
abolition  of  the  Parliament  of  Ireland  was  effected, 


18351  The  Whigs  and  Coercion.  289 

on  the  effects  of  that  measure  on  Ireland,  and  on  the 
probable  consequences  of  continuing  the  legislative 
union,  he  spoke  for  rather  over  five  hours.  It  was  a 
great  effort,  but  hardly  to  be  called  a  great  speech. 
He  set  himself  to  prove  three  points  :  first,  that  Eng- 
land had  no  right  of  conquest,  nor  any  title  to  the 
subjugation  of  Ireland  ;  second,  that  no  Parliament, 
deriving  its  power  of  legislation  from  the  people,  had 
the  right  to  annihilate  itself;  and  third,  that  Ireland 
had  declined  in  prosperity  since,  and  because  of,  the 
Union.  His  speech  thus  possessed  a  threefold  as- 
pect—  an  historical,  a  constitutional,  and  a  financial. 
For  the  historical  argument,  the  less  said  about  it 
the  better ;  it  was  deadly  dull  and  worthless  ;  for  the 
constitutional,  he  made  one  telling  quotation  from 
Locke,  which,  had  the  Union  been  a  matter  of 
merely  academic  -discussion,  would,  in  itself,  have 
settled  the  question  ;  in  his  financial  argument,  he 
stood  on  firmer  ground,  but  his  figures  were  badly 
arranged,  and,  worse  than  all,  they  were  answerable. 
Had  he  devoted  his  attention  more  to  this  aspect  of 
the  question,  and  less  to  the  historical,  he  would  un- 
doubtedly have  produced  a  greater  effect,  have  bored 
his  audience  less,  and  have  rendered  the  task  of 
Spring  Rice,  who,  having  made  a  special  study  of  the 
relations  between  the  two  kingdoms,  was  put  up  to 
answer  him,  a  much  more  difficult  one.  This,  he 
himself  admitted.  The  question,  he  explained  to 
Fitzpatrick,  "  turns  upon  the  single  fact,  whether  or 
not  Ireland  has  prospered  by  or  since  the  Union. 
Rice   figures    Ireland  into    prosperity.      Is  Ireland 

prosperous  ?     Whoever    thinks  not,  refutes  Rice's 
19 


290  Daniel  O'Connell.  (1832- 

entire  case  and  that  of  the  Unionists.      Whoever 
says  '  Yes '  gives  Rice  the  victory." 

From  O'Connell's  point  of  view,  this  is  no  doubt 
quite  true.  Nevertheless,  it  may  perhaps  be  per- 
mitted to  dissent  from  the  opinion  that  the  case  for  the 
Union  hinges  on  the  prosperity  or  non-prosperity  of 
Ireland.  The  Union,  it  may  at  once  be  said,  is  not 
a  topic  for  academic  discussion.  It  may  be  granted 
that  England  has  no  claim  to  hold  Ireland  by  right 
of  conquest,  though  it  is  difficult  to  understand  what, 
in  the  face  of  actual  facts,  that  assertion  exactly 
means  ;  it  may  be  allowed  that  no  legislature  has  the 
power  to  annihilate  itself ;  it  may  even  be  admitted 
that  Ireland  has  not  prospered  under  the  Union  ;  and 
yet  the  Union  remains  a  solid  and  stubborn  fact. 
Why  ?  Simply  because  it  is  to  England's  interest 
to  maintain  it.  Stripped  of  all  irrelevant,  including 
not  a  little  hypocritical,  matter,  the  Union  was  car- 
ried by  force,  and  has  ever  since  been  so  maintained. 
It  is  not  a  question  of  justice  or  injustice,  of  prosper- 
ity or  the  reverse,  but  of  simple  utility.  "  Political 
problems,"  said  Burke,  "  do  not  primarily  concern 
truth  or  falsehood.  What  in  the  result  is  likely  to 
produce  evil,  is  politically  false ;  that  which  is  pro- 
ductive of  good,  politically  true."  The  Union  was 
Pitt's  attempt  to  solve  a  problem  which  in  his  opinion 
involved,  not  only  the  safety,  but  the  very  existence 
of  the  British  Empire  ;  and  it  is  no  paradox  to  say 
that  if  any  single  individual  was  responsible  for  it, 
that  individual  was  Theobald  Wolfe  Tone.  This 
was  entirely  Peel's  view  of  the  subject,  when,  in 
the  present  debate,  he  insisted  that  Repeal  was  not 


1835]  The  Whigs  and  Coercion.  291 

merely  a  question  between  England  and  Ireland,  nor 
between  Great  Britain  and  Europe,  but  between  the 
British  Empire  and  the  world.  Whether  the  Union 
was  not  a  political  blunder  of  the  first  magnitude  is 
another  matter.  But  if  it  is  ever  to  be  repealed,  it 
must  be  shown  to  be  a  blunder  to  Englishmen.  The 
moment  that  England  is  convinced  that  it  is  to  her 
interest  to  restore  to  Ireland  her  domestic  legislature, 
that  moment  the  Union  will  stand  repealed.  Ireland 
never  had  anything  to  do  with  the  making  of  it,  and 
will  have  nothing  to  do  with  the  unmaking  of  it,  ex- 
cept in  so  far  as  she  may  have  the  power  of  creating 
the  necessity  for  it.  When  O'Connell  urged  the 
influx  of  Irish  cheap  labour  into  the  English  market 
as  a  motive  for  repealing  the  Union,  men  listened  to 
him  ;  when  he  spoke  of  justice  and  mercy,  they 
turned  a  deaf  ear  to  him  and  rejected  his  motion  for 
inquiry  by  523  to  38. 

Still,  the  debate  was  not  wholly  unproductive  of 
good.  Many,  even  while  they  voted  for  the  reten- 
tion of  the  Union,  had  not  listened  altogether  un- 
moved to  the  recital  of  Ireland's  wrongs,  and  a 
strong  feeling  sprang  up  of  a  desire  to  treat  her  with 
greater  leniency  and  consideration.  The  change  of 
sentiment  did  not  escape  O'Connell.  "  I  repeat," 
he  wrote  to  Fitzpatrick,  "  we  Repealers  have  made 
great  moral  way  in  the  opinion  of  the  House."  The 
consequences  were  important.  Immediately  the  Re- 
peal debate  was  over,  Littleton  introduced  a  Bill  for 
the  commutation  of  tithe  into  a  land  tax.  The  Bill 
naturally  failed  to  satisfy  O'Connell,  who  called  it 
a  "most   excellent   humbug";   but  it  was  equally 


292  Daniel  O'Cotuie/l.  [1832- 

unsatisfactory,  though  for  different  reasons,  to  Stanley. 
Curiosity  was  on  tiptoe  to  know  how  far  ministers 
were  in  agreement  u{>on  it,  and  Sheil  pointedly 
asked  them  whether  they  were  prepared  to  maintain 
or  abandon  the  Church  Establishment.  Stanley  re- 
plied ambiguously  ;  but  Lord  John  Russell,  casting 
discretion  to  the  wind,  acknowledged  that,  having 
resisted  Repeal  on  the  ground  that  Parliament  was 
ready  to  attend  to  the  just  complaints  of  the  people 
of  Ireland,  he  could  not  lightly  regard  the  obligation 
thereby  contracted.  "  Johnny  has  upset  the  coach," 
laconically  remarked  Stanley  to  Sir  James  Graham  ; 
if  not  indeed  quite,  he  let  it  be  seen  that  dissensions 
existed  in  the  Cabinet,  and  made  an  opening  for  the 
thin  end  of  the  wedge  which  was  to  lead  to  its 
disruption. 

Seeing  how  matters  were  going,  O'Connell,  in  or- 
der not  to  give  any  chance  for  a  joint  attack  on  Ire- 
land, commanded  an  absolute  suspension  of  the 
Repeal  agitation.  His  friends,  he  wrote,  were  not 
to  suppose  that  he  had  in  any  way  altered  his 
mind  upon  the  necessity  of  Repeal ;  but  the  situa- 
tion was  critical,  and  he  was  endeavouring  to  make 
the  most  of  it  by  using  "  the  Repeal  in  terrorcm 
merely  until  it  is  wise  and  necessary  to  recommence 
the  agitation,"  his  object  being  to  "  seek  for  practi- 
cal benefits  for  Ireland  in  a  tone  and  temper  beyond 
reproach,"  and  not  to  afford  ministers  the  slightest 
excuse  to  renew  the  Coercion  Act,  which  would  ex- 
pire with  the  session.  The  course  of  events  favoured 
his  project.  On  27th  May,  a  motion  was  made  to 
pledge  the   House  to  the  appropriation  of  surplus 


1835]  The  Whigs  and  Coercion.  293 

Church  property  in  Ireland  to  secular  purposes. 
The  motion  placed  Government  in  an  awkward  di- 
lemma and,  seeing  no  way  out  of  the  difficulty 
without  resigning,  Stanley,  Graham,  the  Duke  of 
Richmond,  and  Lord  Ripon  withdrew  from  the  min- 
istry. A  short  adjournment  took  place,  in  order  to 
afford  time  to  supply  their  places,  and  then  the 
business  of  the  session  recommenced.  The  main 
question  was  the  Tithe  Bill.  Could  O'Connell,  it 
was  asked,  be  induced  to  withdraw  his  opposition  to 
it?  Littleton  thought  it  possible  to  manage  him. 
He  was  known  to  be  anxious  not  to  have  the  Coer- 
cion Act  renewed,  and  Wellesley,  though  not  pre- 
pared to  retract  his  opinion  entirely  as  to  the 
necessity  for  its  renewal,  was  willing  to  meet  his 
colleague's  wishes  by  accepting  it  minus  its  political 
clauses. 

Believing  that  he  had  thus  smoothed  the  way  for 
an  understanding,  Littleton,  with  the  assent  of  Al- 
thorp,  but  without  the  knowledge  of  Grey,  opened 
up  negotiations  with  O'Connell.  He  found  him  not 
merely  willing  to  treat,  but  ready  to  assist  Govern- 
ment.    Privately,  he  was  more  than  satisfied. 

"  I  have  great  pleasure,"  he  wrote  confidentially  to  Fitz- 
patrick  on  24th  June,  "  in  telling  you  that  no  part  of  the 
Coercion  Bill  is  to  be  renewed  but  that  which  relates  to 
*  Predial  Agitation,'  and  even  from  that  everything  un- 
constitutional is  to  be  omitted.  We  must,  therefore,  soon 
bethink  ourselves  of  returning  to  Dublin,  and  of  arrang- 
ing for  political  agitation.  But  this  must  not  appear  in 
any  newspaper." 


294  Daniel  O^Connell.  ti832- 

What,  then,  was  his  surprise,  to  hear  ten  days 
later  from  Littleton  that,  owing  to  the  opposition 
of  the  Prime  Minister,  the  Cabinet  had  resolved  to 
renew  the  Coercion  Act  in  all  its  terrors.  Thinking 
himself  to  have  been  purposely  misled,  he  told  Lit- 
tleton that  nothing  remained  for  him  but  to  resign. 
This,  unfortunately  for  his  credit,  Littleton,  trusting 
to  the  chapter  of  accidents,  did  not  do,  and  the  Cabi- 
net, supporting  Grey,  in  his  resolution,  O'Connell 
made  the  whole  transaction  public.  The  result  was 
the  resignation  of  Earl  Grey,  and  the  reconstruction 
of  the  administration  under  Lord  Melbourne,  with 
Lord  Duncannon  as  Home  Secretary,  and  Welles- 
ley  and  Littleton  retaining  their  respective  posts  in 
Ireland. 

O'Connell  was  jubilant  at  the  result. 

"  We  are,"  he  wrote,  "  on  the  way  from  half  Whig,  half 
Tory  government,  to  one  half  Radical,  half  Whig,  with- 
out the  slightest  admixture  of  Toryism.  The  moment 
such  a  Ministry  is  formed  there  will  be  a  famous  turning 
off  in  Ireland.  The  Attorney-General  (Blackbume) 
will  certainly  be  dismissed,  and  the  entire  Orange  clique 
will  go  with  him." 

Shorn  of  its  political  clauses,  the  Coercion  Bill 
passed  its  third  reading  on  26th  July  ;  but  the  Tithe 
Bill,  after  passing  safely  through  the  Commons,  was 
rejected  by  the  Lords  on  nth  August.  Two  days 
previously,  O'Connell  had  left  London  for  Ireland, 
quieter  in  his  mind,  though  unable  to  secure  the  re- 
moval of  Blackbume,  than  he  had  been  for  a  long 
time.      Two   months   passed  away :    for   O'Connell 


J 


1835]  The  Whigs  a7id  Coercion.  295 

two  months  of  delightful  rest  and  recreation  at 
Darrynane,  but  otherwise  of  deep  disappointment. 
Of  the  "  turning  off,"  which  he  had  so  confidently 
expected  under  the  new  regime,  there  had  been  no 
sign  ;  on  the  contrary,  it  seemed  as  if  the  Whigs 
were  determined,  by  every  means  in  their  power,  to 
strengthen  the  hands  of  the  Orange  party. 

"You  are  now,"  he  wrote  indignantly  to  Lord  Dun- 
cannon  on  nth  October,  "three  months  in  office,  and 
you  have  done  nothing  for  Ireland  ;  you  have  not  in 
any,  even  the  slightest  degree,  altered  the  old  system. 
The  people  are  as  ground  down  by  Orange  functionaries 
as  ever  they  were  in  the  most  palmy  days  of  Toryism." 

When  the  news  came,  a  month  later,  that  the  King, 
taking  advantage  of  the  removal  of  Althorp  to  the 
Upper  House  in  consequence  of  the  death  of  his 
father,  Earl  Spencer,  had  dismissed  Melbourne  and 
called  upon  Peel  to  construct  a  Tory  administration, 
he  exclaimed, "  It  is  well  that  we  are  rid  of  the  hum- 
buggers.  Nous  verrons.  I  am  convinced  that  all 
will  be  for  the  better."  But  second  thoughts  are 
proverbially  wiser,  and  at  the  general  election  in 
January,  1835,  he  rendered  what  assistance  he  could 
to  promote  the  success  of  the  Whigs. 


r^^ 


CHAPTER  XIII. 

IRELAND   UNDER  THOMAS   DRUMMOND. 
1835-184O. 

IN  the  new  Parliament,  which  met  for  the  first 
time  on  19th  February,  1835,  neither  Whigs 
nor  Tories  had  a  decided  majority  ;  the  balance 
of  power  lay  with  O'Connell  and  his  Repeal  contin- 
gent. This  circumstance,  and  the  fact  that  O'Con- 
nell's  sympathies  inclined  him  towards  the  Whigs, 
rendered  a  more  formal  understanding  between 
them  not  only  possible,  but,  in  the  opinion  of  both, 
desirable.  The  result  was  what  is  known  as  the 
"  Lichfield  House  Compact."  It  is  not  worth  while 
quarrelling  with  the  name,  though  "compact,"  as 
Lord  John  Russell  said,  "  it  was  none  ;  but  an  alli- 
ance on  honourable  terms  of  mutual  co-operation." 
The  terms  of  the  agreement  were  of  the  simplest 
possible.  O'Connell  offered  his  assistance  to  put 
the  Whigs  in  power,  and  to  maintain  them  there  on 
condition  that  they  would  govern  Ireland  wisely  and 
beneficently.     For  himself  he  asked  nothing. 

It  was  not  long  before  the  fruits  of  the  alliance 
were  visible.     On  8th  April  Peel,  having  been  de- 

296 


1835-40]       Ireland  under  Dru7nmond.  297 

feated  on  the  question  of  appropriating  the  surplus 
property  of  the  Church  of  Ireland  to  secular  uses, 
resigned  office,  thereby  obliging  the  King,  much 
against  his  will,  to  call  on  Melbourne  to  construct  an 
administration.  In  the  distribution  of  posts  that 
followed  Lord  Mulgrave  was  appointed  Lord  Lieu- 
tenant of  Ireland,  with  Lord  Morpeth  as  his  Chief 
Secretary.  The  case  of  O'Connell  presented  some 
diflficulty.  It  was  felt  that  if  possible  he  ought  to 
be  provided  for.  He  expressed  his  willingness  to 
accept  the  Attorney  Generalship,  if  only  to  show  his 
inveterate  enemies,  the  Orangemen,  that  the  office 
might  be  impartially  executed  ;  but  the  King's  pre- 
judices interposed  an  insuperable  obstacle,  and  the 
Mastership  of  the  Rolls,  which  was  offered  to  him,  he 
declined.     He   was   quite   content   to  be  excluded. 

"  I  have,"  he  wrote  to  Fitzpatrick  on  14th  April, 
"  been  most  highly  flattered  and  thanked,  etc.,  etc.,  for 
my  conduct,  and  yet  it  would  be  not  only  folly,  but  guilt, 
in  me  to  accept  any  office  until  /  have  seen  how  the  new 
Ministry  works.  My  policy  is  obvious — to  keep  what 
control  I  possibly  can  over  the  new  government,  instead 
of  being  under  its  control.  I  will  also  be  more  useful  by 
influencing  the  appointment  of  others  than  by  submitting 
to  take  an  appointment  myself." 

He  was  right.  Relieved  by  the  self-denying  ordin- 
ance he  had  placed  on  himself,  ministers  showed 
extra  willingness  to  listen  to  his  advice.  Louis  Per- 
rin,  a  highly  respected  Protestant  barrister,  whose 
claims  he  had  constantly  urged,  was  made  Attorney 
General ;   Michael  O'Loghlen,  who  next  to  himself 


298  Da7iiel  0*ConnelL  [1835- 

had  the  highest  reputation  and  largest  practice  among 
Catholic  lawyers,  was  appointed  Solicitor  General ; 
and  last,  but  not  least,  Thomas  Drummond  was  ap)- 
pointed  Under  Secretary  at  the  Castle.  When  the 
arrangements  were  completed,  O'Connell  with  his 
contingent  passed  over  from  the  opposition  to  the 
ministerial  side  of  the  House.  Thus  was  the  "  com- 
pact," or  '*  alliance,"  or  understanding,  or  what- 
ever it  might  be  called,  begun  at  Lichfield  House, 
formally  and  openly  ratified. 

Paying  a  hurried  visit  to  Dublin,  O'Connell  ex- 
plained his  position  in  a  "  Letter  to  the  People  of 
Ireland." 

"  I  come  now,"  he  wrote,  "  before  the  people  to  avow 
myself  the  determined  supporter  of  the  Administration. 
To  the  King's  Ministers  I  have  tendered  my  unbought, 
unpurchasable,  unconditional  support.  I  have  neither 
made  terms  nor  stipulations  with  them.  It  suffices  for 
me  that  their  political  principles  are  all  identified  with 
the  cause  of  good  government  and  of  justice  to  the  loved 
land  of  my  birth.  ...  It  is  under  this  impression  that  I 
have  tendered  my  support.  It  is  simply  and  singly  be- 
cause I  deem  them  the  friends  of  Ireland  that  they  com- 
mand my  services,  such  as  they  are.  .  .  .  But,  as  I 
have  not  deemed  it  necessar}'  or  wise  to  make  stipula- 
tions with  the  present  Ministry,  I  may,  and  I  ought  to,  be 
asked  what  benefits  I  expect  to  anticipate  for  Ireland 
from  the  King's  present  Ministers.  .  .  .  The  coun- 
try will  cease  to  be  governed  by  its  unrelenting  enemies. 
The  Ministers  will  necessarily  displace  their  own  and  the 
people's  enemies,  and  employ  the  friends  of  the  people 
and  their  own.     .     .     .     The  administration  of  justice 


1840]    Ireland  under  Thomas  Drummond.     299 

in  Ireland  will  be  purified.  The  selection  to  judicial 
offices  of  political  partisans  will  never  more  be  heard  of  ; 
men  who  have  proved  their  integrity  and  independence 
by  political  honesty  in  times  when  it  was  a  crime  to  dare 
to  be  liberal  will  be  the  fit  objects  of  the  selection  of  the 
Ministry  ;  and  the  waters  of  justice  will  no  longer  be 
poured  through  mephitic  channels,  destructive  of  life 
and  property,  but  will  flow  in  pure  sources,  diffusing 
salubrity  and  gladness  over  the  land." 

The  Melbourne  administration  lasted  five  years, 
and  for  almost  the  whole  of  that  period  it  com- 
manded the  support,  if  not  always  the  praise,  of 
O'Connell.  It  solved  the  tithe  diflficulty,  reformed 
the  municipal  corporations,  and  gave  Ireland  a  poor 
law.  But  it  was  not  so  much  in  its  legislative,  as  in 
its  administrative  capacity,  that  it  was  most  success- 
ful. For  the  first  time  since  the  Union,  Ireland  en- 
joyed a  government  that  was  really  entitled  to  be 
called  popular.  The  streams  of  justice  for  once 
flowed  in  pure  sources.  For  once  the  whole  people 
went  to  Court.  And  if  the  name  of  Thomas  Drum- 
mond, who,  nil  actum  reputans,  si  quid  superesset 
agendum,  literally  killed  himself  in  trying  to  serve 
her,  is  to-day  one  of  the  most  beloved  and  revered 
in  Ireland,  it  ought  not  to  be  forgotten  that  it  is  to 
O'Connell,  in  the  first  place,  that  thanks  are  due  for 
rendering  such  a  government  as  that  of  Drummond's 
possible.  People  still  talk  of  his  one  great  Emanci- 
pation success  being  balanced  by  his  great  Repeal 
failure.  His  contemporaries  blamed  him  for  his  sus- 
pension of  the  Repeal  agitation.  But  it  cannot  too 
often  be  repeated  that  O'Connell's  great  object  was, 


300  Daniel  O^Coniiell.  [1835- 

not  Repeal  but  good  government.  That  he  got  from 
the  Mulgrave-Drummond  administration,  and  suc- 
cess justified  his  experiment.  Had  Ireland  been 
blessed  with  a  few  more  Thomas  Drummonds  in  the 
early  decades  of  the  centurj',  there  would  never  have 
been  any  question  of  Repeal  at  all,  and  O'Connell 
would  have  been  known  merely  as  a  great  lawyer 
whose  abilities  had  raised  him  to  the  highest  legal 
oflfice  in  his  native  land.  This  the  Orangemen  of 
his  own  day  knew  perfectly  well,  and  if  Drummond 
was  execrated  by  them,  it  was  O'Connell  that  had 
to  bear  the  brunt  of  their  wrath.  The  wonder  is 
that  they  did  not  succeed  in  driving  him  out  of 
public  life. 

To  retrace  our  steps  slightly.  At  the  general 
election  in  January,  1835,  O'Connell  had  been  re- 
turned for  Dublin  with  a  considerably  diminished 
majority.  There  was  good  reason  to  believe  that 
many  who  had  voted  for  him  were  disqualified  by 
non-payment  of  rates,  and  a  petition  was  at  once 
lodged  against  him,  the  costs  of  which  are  said  to 
have  been  largely  defrayed  by  the  Carlton  Club. 
The  petition  was  not  decided  till  May  in  the  follow- 
ing year,  when  O'Connell  and  his  colleague,  Ruthven, 
were  unseated.  Two  votes,  he  bitterly  remarked, 
would  have  made  all  the  difference.  The  petition  was 
one  of  the  most  expensive  on  record,  and  more  than 
once,  during  its  progress,  O'Connell  thought  that  he 
would  have  to  go  the  length  of  mortgaging  Darry- 
nane.  The  suspense  was  terrible,  and  the  decision, 
though  bitterly  unpleasant  to  his  feelings,  was  a 
relief. 


THOMAS  DRUMMOND. 

AFTER    PICKER8GILL   BY    H.    COUSINS. 


i 


18401    Ireland  under  Thomas  Drummond.     301 

"  It  has,  indeed,"  he  wrote  to  Fitzpatrick  on  13th  May, 
"  been  an  awful  load.  You  are  aware  that  the  Dublin 
part  of  the  business  cost  me;;^65oor  thereabouts,  exclu- 
sive of  the  sum  subscribed  in  that  town.  I  did  not  get 
one  shilling  assistance  for  the  expenses  in  London,  of 
the  weight  of  which  you  may  judge  when  I  tell  you  I 
had  to  pay  counsel  for  80  days,  which  you  may  estimate 
at  the  lowest  zijC"]^  per  day  ;  that  is,  in  fees  to  counsel 
;^6ooo  ;  add  to  that  my  expenses  in  Dublin,  and  other 
expenses  here,  and  you  will  find  me  at  the  loss  of  full 
;^8ooo  at  the  lowest  calculation.  It  has  cost  the  opposite 
party  four,  or  perhaps  five  times  that  sum  ;  but  what 
comfort  is  that  to  me  !  Recollect  that  I  have  four  other 
petitions  in  my  family  to  defend,  and  five  contested  elec- 
tions. The  Youghal  committee  alone  cost  me  more  than 
;^2ooo.  This  conspiracy  against  me  is,  therefore,  nearly 
complete.  .  .  .  It  is  a  compliment  the  Orange 
faction  pay  to  my  utility.  .  .  .  There  is  nothing 
fictitious  in  the  fury  with  which  I  am  pursued  and 
persecuted." 

Driven  from  Dublin,  he  took  refuge  in  Kilkenny, 
where  a  vacancy  had  been  created  for  him.  Day  by 
day  the  Tory  press  of  England  and  Ireland  followed 
him  with  unrelenting  hatred,  pouring  scorn  on  the 
Ministry  that  could  stoop  so  low  as  to  seek  his  co- 
operation. Nor  were  they  altogether  unsuccessful 
in  inflaming  the  public  mind  against  him.  When 
Lord  Melbourne  announced  in  the  House  of  Lords 
that  he  had  succeeded  in  forming  a  ministry.  Lord 
Alvanley,  who  had  some  reputation  for  being  a  wag, 
asked  him  with  a  sneer  to  explain  the  terms  on 
which  he  had  procured  O'Connell's  assistance.  Mel- 
bourne replied  with  dignity  that  he  had  made  no 


302  Daniel  O'Connell.  [teas- 

terms  whatever  with  Mr.  O'Connell.  This  was  too 
much  for  Tory  credulity,  and  in  the  House  of  Com- 
mons Colonel  Sibthorp  begged  leave  to  doubt  whether 
Mr.  O'Connell  "had  not  been  a  prompter  and  ad- 
viser in  the  things  that  had  taken  place."  In  reply- 
ing, O'Connell  contrasted  "  the  good  temper  and 
politeness  of  Colonel  Sibthorp  "  with  the  "  different 
style "  used  by  a  "  bloated  buffoon "  in  another 
place.  Naturally,  Alvanley  resented  being  called  a 
"  bloated  buffoon  " ;  but  before  he  could  make  up 
his  mind  to  demand  satisfaction  for  the  insult,  O'Con- 
nell had  left  London.  His  letter,  enclosed  in  one 
from  his  "  friend,"  the  Hon.  Dawson  Damer,  reached 
its  destination  a  week  after  it  had  been  written. 
"This  bangs  Banagher  ! "  was  O'Connell's  exclama- 
tion on  reading  it.  Fancy  a  letter  being  sent  by  one 
person  in  Clifden  to  another  person  in  London, 
to  be  transmitted  to  a  third  person  in  Dublin,  to 
fight  a  duel !  A  long  shot  truly  !  For  the  rest, 
though  inclined  to  treat  the  matter  as  a  huge 
joke,  he  declared  he  had  half  a  mind  to  bring 
it  before  the  House  of  Commons,  as  a  breach  of 
privilege.  Alvanley,  in  a  paroxysm  of  rage,  there- 
upon wrote  to  the  managers  of  Brooks's,  requesting 
them  to  expel  O'Connell.  This  they  very  properly 
declined  to  do  ;  but,  the  letter  being  public  property, 
O'Connell's  son  Morgan  took  up  the  cudgels  in 
his  father's  behalf.  Alvanley  agreed  to  accept  him 
as  his  substitute,  and  the  two,  with  their  seconds, 
met  on  Wimbledon  Common.  There  was  no  one 
on  the  ground  but  an  old  woman  and  a  Methodist 
clergyman,  who,  in  the  exercise  of  his  office,  besought 


18401    Ireland  under  Thomas  Drummond.     303 

Alvanley  to  think  of  his  soul.  "Yes,"  replied  he, 
"but  my  body  is  now  in  the  greatest  danger." 
Three  shots  were  fired,  and  the  parties  separated. 
On  returning  to  town,  Alvanley  handed  his  cabman 
gold.  "  This  is  a  great  deal  for  only  taking  your 
lordship  to  Wimbledon,"  said  he.  "  It 's  not  for  tak- 
ing me  there,  but  for  bringing  me  back,"  replied 
his  lordship.  The  affair  furnished  the  town  with 
some  amusement,  and  Alvanley  became  a  celebrated 
character. 

"  The  Solon  of  statesmen,  the  Falstaff  of  wits, 
As  even  O'Connell  in  candour  admits  : 
He's  the  pride  of  the  Park,  of  the  Club,  the  saloon, 
For  the  wag  of  all  wags  is  the  "  Bloated  Buffoon."- 

Following  hard  on  his  quarrel  with  Alvanley 
came  one  with  Benjamin  Disraeli,  afterwards  Lord 
Beaconsfield.  Disraeli  had  solicited  O'Connell's 
assistance  in  1831,  when  contesting  the  borough  of 
Wycombe  in  the  radical  interest.  Nevertheless,  he 
failed  to  get  elected,  and  shortly  afterwards  going 
over  to  the  Tories,  spoke  of  O'Connell  at  Taunton  as 
an  "  incendiary"  and  "traitor."  O'Connell  address- 
ing the  "  Dublin  Franchise  Union,"  in  May,  paid 
him  out  in  his  own  coin.  Disraeli,  he  declared,  was 
a  disgrace  to  his  species  —  his  life  was  a  living  He. 
His  name  showed  that  he  was  by  descent  a  Jew. 
His  father  became  a  convert.  He  was  the  better 
for  that  in  the  present  world,  and  he,  O'Connell, 
hoped  he  would  be  the  better  for  it  in  the  world 
to  come.  There  was  a  habit  of  underrating  that 
great  and  oppressed  nation  —  the  Jews.     They  were 


304  Dafu'el  O' Connell.  [1835- 

cruelly  persecuted  by  persons  calling  themselves 
Christians ;  but  no  person  ever  yet  was  a  Christian 
who  persecuted.  It  would  not,  therefore,  be  sup- 
posed that  when  he  spoke  of  Disraeli  as  the  de- 
scendant of  a  Jew  he  meant  to  tarnish  him  on  that 
account.  The  Jews  were  once  the  chosen  people  of 
God.  But  there  were  miscreants  amongst  them, 
even  then,  and  it  was  surely  from  one  of  these  that 
Disraeli  was  descended.  He  possessed  just  the 
qualities  of  the  impenitent  thief  who  died  upon  the 
cross,  and  with  the  impression  that  Disraeli  was  his 
descendant,  he  forgave  the  heir-at-law  of  the  blas- 
phemous thief  who  died  upon  the  cross.  The 
severity  of  the  rebuke  pierced  even  Disraeli's  cyni- 
cism, and,  quivering  with  rage,  he  addressed  a  letter 
to  Morgan  O'Connell,  modestly  requesting  him  "  to 
resume  his  vicarious  duties  of  yielding  satisfaction 
for  the  insults  which  his  father  had  too  long  lavished 
with  impunity  upon  his  political  opponents."  When 
Morgan  flatly  refused  to  comply  with  his  insolent 
request,  Disraeli  published  an  open  letter  "  to  Daniel 
O'Connell,"  which  he  enclosed  in  another  to  Morgan. 
"  Now,  Sir,"  he  wrote,  "  it  is  my  hope  that  I  have 
insulted  him  —  assuredly  it  was  my  intention  to  do 
so ;  and  I  fervently  pray  that  you  or  some  one  of 
his  blood  may  attempt  to  avenge  the  inextinguish- 
able hatred  with  which  I  shall  pursue  his  existence." 
This  letter  Morgan  returned  with  the  remark,  "  The 
tenor  of  your  last  letter  is  such  that  it  is  impossible 
for  me  to  renew  the  correspondence." 

More  damaging,  however,  to  O'Connell's  reputa- 
tion than  either  of  these  affairs  was  his  controversy 


1840]    Ireland  under  Thomas  Drummond.     305 

with  Raphael.  Alexander  Raphael  was  a  Catholic 
and  a  sheriff  of  the  City  of  London.  He  was  anxious 
to  become  an  M.P.,  and  a  vacancy  occurring  shortly 
after  the  general  election  in  the  representation  of  the 
county  of  Carlow,  O'Connell,  believing  his  principles 
to  be  "  all  we  can  desire,"  offered  to  assist  in  procur- 
ing his  return.  The  terms  of  the  agreement  are  set 
forth  in  the  following  letter : 

"9  Clarges  St.,  1st  June,  1835.  My  dear  Sir, — Your 
having  acceded  to  the  terms  proposed  to  you  for  the 
election  of  the  county  of  Carlow,  viz. —  you  to  pay 
before  nomination  ^1000,  and  a  like  sum  after  being 
returned,  the  first  to  be  paid  absolutely  and  entirely 
for  being  nominated,  the  second  to  be  paid  only 
in  the  event  of  your  having  been  returned,  I  hereby 
undertake  to  guarantee  and  save  you  harmless  from  any 
and  every  other  expense  whatsoever,  whether  of  agents, 
carriages,  counsel,  petition  against  the  return,  or  of 
any  other  description.  I  make  this  guarantee  in  the 
fullest  sense  of  the  honourable  engagement  that  you 
shall  not  possibly  be  required  to  pay  one  shilling  more  in 
any  event  or  upon  any  contingency  whatsoever.  I  am, 
etc.     Daniel  O'Connell." 

Raphael  paid  his  first  ;^  1000,  and  on  21st  June  was, 
together  with  a  Mr.  Vigors,  elected  M.P.  for  Carlow. 
He  ought,  of  course,  then  and  there  to  have  paid  his 
second  ;^iooo;  but,  getting  wind  that  his  return  was 
to  be  petitioned  against,  he  tried  to  keep  fast  hold  of 
his  money  till  the  petition  was  decided  in  his  favour. 
This  O'Connell  absolutely,  in  the  interests  of  the 
Liberal  Club  at  Carlow,  refused  to  allow,  and  Ra- 
phael paid  down  his  second ^^^looo  under  protest.    He 


3o6  Daniel  O'Connell.  11835- 

was  unseated,  and  O'Connell,  to  soften  his  disap- 
pointment, offered  to  use  his  influence  to  get  him  a 
baronetcy.  Raphael  declined  the  courtesy  and, 
smarting  under  the  loss  of  his  money,  revenged  him- 
self by  publishing  a  letter  in  the  Times,  on  31st 
October,  setting  forth  his  grievances  and  charging 
O'Connell  with  having  appropriated  part  of  the 
£2000  to  his  own  private  purposes.  His  letter 
was  hailed  as  a  godsend  by  O'Connell's  enemies, 
who  at  last  thought  they  saw  an  opportunity  of 
hounding  him  out  of  public  life.  Never  had  party 
passion  run  higher  in  England  against  a  single 
individual  than  it  did  at  the  time  against  O'Connell. 
Never  did  language  seem  so  inadequate  to  express 
the  hatred  and  loathing  with  which  he  was  regarded. 
Foremost  among  his  detractors  was,  of  course,  the 
Times,  and  even  in  its  own  annals  perhaps  the  scur- 
rility of  the  following  lines  remains  unsurpassed  : 

"  Scum  condensed  of  Irish  bog  ! 
Ruffian  —  coward  —  demagogue  ! 
Boundless  liar  —  base  detractor ! 
Nurse  of  murders,  treason's  factor  ! 


**  Spout  thy  filth  —  eflfuse  thy  slime  ; 
Slander  is  in  thee  no  crime. 
Safe  from  challenge — safe  from  law, 
What  can  curb  thy  callous  jaw  ? 
Who  would  sue  a  convict  liar  ? 
On  a  poltroon  who  would  fire  ?  "   etc. 

If  the  best  conducted  journal  in  England  could  find 
such   language   worthy  of  its  columns,  was  it  any 


1840]    Ireland  under  Thomas  Drummond.    307 

wonder  if  fine  gentlemen,  like  Sir  Francis  Burdett, 
could  no  longer  bear  to  breathe  the  air  contaminated 
by  O'Connell,  and,  failing  to  procure  his  expulsion 
from  Brooks's,  resigned  in  a  body  ?  The  one  man 
who  preserved  his  temper  was  O'Connell  himself. 
His  reply  to  Sir  Francis  Burdett  was  particularly 
happy  : 

"  I  shall,"  he  wrote,  "  look  out  for  '  a  commodity  of 
good  words.*  Everything  that  falls  from  my  pen  shall 
be  redolent  of  the  civet.  I  will  carry  on  the  political 
warfare  with  eau  de  rose.  He  who  tells  base  lies  shall  in 
future  be  a  '  falsificator  ' ;  he  who  betrays  his  principles, 
his  party  and  his  country,  shall  be  '  a  foolish  and  fading 
gentleman  '  ;  and  he  who,  with  only  one  virtue  and  a 
thousand  faults,  abandons  that  virtue,  but  corrects  none 
of  the  faults,  shall  be —  I  do  not  at  present  know 
exactly  what,  but  I  will  discover  some  perfumed  word 
so  soft  as  not  to  shake  the  shattered  nerves  of  the  most 
unsound,  personally  as  politically,  of  the  shattered  rou^s 
of  St.  James's." 

The  following  session  a  committee  was  appointed 
to  investigate  the  charge  brought  by  Raphael.  The 
committee,  while  finding  the  tone  of  the  letter  of 
agreement  calculated  tc  excite  suspicion,  completely 
exonerated  O'Connell,  and  the  verdict  of  the  com- 
mittee was  subsequently  confirmed  by  the  House 
itself.  O'Connell  in  his  examination  took,  however, 
higher  ground.  His  influence  in  Ireland  was,  he 
admitted,  greater  than  any  man  ought  to  possess  ; 
the  temptation  to  misuse  it  was  enormous,  but  it  was 
the  result  of  the  injustice  with  which  his  country 
was   treated,  and   would  disappear  as  soon  as   her 


3o8  Daniel  O'Conneli.  [183&- 

grievances  were  redressed.  The  Raphael  calumny 
was  only  one  of  many  with  which  he  was  at  this 
time  assailed.  To  most  of  them  he  paid  no  atten- 
tion. But  a  remark  of  his,  touching  the  demoralising 
influences  of  the  poor  laws  in  England,  having  been 
twisted  into  an  attack  on  the  virtue  of  English- 
women, he  thought  it  necessary  to  explain  himself, 
and  also  to  give  a  flat  denial  to  a  scandal  set  on  foot 
by  Blackwood  \.hdd.  he  had  received  ;;^ICXX)  from  Mr. 
Potter,  of  Manchester,  to  vote  for  Poulett  Thomson's 
Factory  Bill. 

In  the  midst  of  the  fierce  warfare  of  personal 
abuse,  he  lost  the  tender  consoling  voice  and  sweet 
sympathy  of  his  wife.  Mrs.  O'Connell  died  on  31st 
October,  1836.  She  was  buried  in  the  old  ruined 
abbey  of  Darrynane.  Her  death  left  a  large  gap  in 
O'Connell's  life.  It  is  the  penalty  that  most  great 
men  pay  for  their  greatness  to  be  practically  alone 
in  the  world,  and,  with  the  exception  of  Fitzpatrick, 
possibly  the  only  friend  that  O'Connell  possessed  — 
the  only  person  to  whom  he  could  unreservedly 
unbosom  himself  —  was  his  wife.  With  her  he 
buried  all  that  had  sweetened  life  for  him  —  all  that 
had  mitigated  defeat,  that  had  compensated  for 
sacrifice,  that  had  enhanced  victory.  Unobtrusive 
in  her  life,  her  death  is  a  factor  in  the  last  years  of 
O'Connell's  life  which  his  biographer  cannot  afford 
to  overlook,  and  explains  much  that  would  be  other- 
wise unintelligible  :  the  fits  of  gloomy  despondency 
with  which  he  was  seized,  the  monastic  penances 
he  inflicted  upon  himself,  the  almost  superhuman 
energy  with  which  he  conducted  his  Repeal  agitation, 


1840]    Ireland  under  Thomas  Drummond.     309 

and  the  awful  collapse  that  followed  —  the  broken 
heart  and  the  worn-out  brain. 

To  resume  our  narrative.  The  Melbourne  admin- 
istration inaugurated  its  advent  to  office  by  sub- 
mitting to  Parliament  four  measures  of  considerable 
importance,  viz.:  a  Bill  for  reforming  municipal  cor- 
porations in  England  ;  a  Bill  commuting  tithe  into 
a  land  tax,  and  appropriating  the  surplus  revenues  of 
the  Church  of  Ireland  ;  a  Bill  for  the  better  regula- 
tion of  the  police  force  of  Dublin  ;  and  a  Bill  for 
reforming  Irish  municipal  corporations.  The  in- 
fluence of  Peel  secured  the  passing  of  the  English 
Corporations  Bill ;  the  three  other  measures  were 
lost,  or  dropped  in  consequence  of  the  opposition  of 
the  House  of  Lords.  The  unscrupulous  fashion  in 
which  the  Peers,  relying  on  the  unpopularity  of  the 
alliance  between  the  Government  and  O'Connell,  ex- 
ercised their  privileges,  elicited  of  course  strong 
expressions  on  the  part  of  the  Whigs.  A  cry  of 
"  Down  with  the  Lords !  "  was  raised  ;  but  although 
O'Connell,  in  the  early  autumn,  undertook  a  cam- 
paign in  the  north  of  England  and  Scotland  for  the 
express  purpose  of  fomenting  the  agitation  against 
them,  addressing  enthusiastic  audiences  at  Man- 
chester, Newcastle,  Edinburgh,  and  Glasgow,  and 
again  in  the  following  January  at  Liverpool  and 
Birmingham,  public  opinion  was  unmistakably  on  the 
side  of  the  Lords. 

The  session  of  1836  was  practically  a  repetition  of 
that  of  the  previous  year.  The  Irish  Municipal  Cor- 
porations Bill,  after  passing  the  House  of  Commons, 
was  abandoned,  in  consequence  of  radical  alterations 


3IO  Daniel  O'Cotinell.  [1835- 

made  in  it  by  the  Lords,  and  for  similar  reasons  the 
Tithe  Bill  was  lost.  In  April,  O'Connell  addressed 
large  meetings  at  Nottingham,  Hull,  and  York,  and 
on  returning  to  Ireland,  in  August,  set  on  foot  a 
"  General  Association  for  Ireland,"  the  objects  of 
which  were :  first,  to  procure  by  law  a  complete 
municipal  reform  in  Ireland,  on  as  large  and  efficient 
a  basis  as  that  originally  proposed  by  the  Ministry, 
and  secondly,  to  procure  by  law  such  a  settlement  of 
the  tithe  question  as  should  be  fully  satisfactory  to 
the  people  of  Ireland.  The  Association  was  to  be 
supported  by  an  "  Irish  Rent,"  on  the  same  basis  as 
the  "  Catholic  Rent,"  and  to  be  dissolved  immedi- 
ately its  objects  were  attained.  It,  however,  at- 
tracted little  attention,  and  having,  in  the  course  of 
twelve  months  effected  nothing,  O'Connell  took  the 
earliest  plausible  opportunity  to  terminate  its  sickly 
existence. 

Parliament  reassembled  on  31st  January,  1837. 
The  Speech  from  the  Throne  suggested,  in  addition 
to  the  annual  programme  of  a  Tithe  Bill  and  a  Bill 
for  corporate  reform,  the  establishment  of  some 
adequate  provision  for  the  maintenance  of  the  poor 
of  Ireland.  On  i  ith  April  the  Municipal  Bill,  having 
passed  its  third  reading  in  the  House  of  Commons 
by  a  majority  of  55,  was  sent  up  to  the  House  of 
Lords.  Not  venturing  to  meet  it  with  a  direct 
negative,  the  Lords  this  time  slightly  altered  their 
tactics  of  obstruction  and,  by  refusing  to  consider  it 
apart  from  the  other  mccisures  prepared  by  Govern- 
ment, succeeded  in  bringing  legislation  to  a  deadlock. 
What  the  consequences  of  their  action  might  have 


A 


1840]    Ireland  under  Thomas  Drummond.     3 1 1 

been  it  is  impossible  with  any  certainty  to  predict. 
As  it  was,  the  death  of  William  IV.,  on  20th  June, 
solved  the  situation. 

O'Connell  was  full  of  enthusiasm  for  the  new 
sovereign,  Queen  Victoria.  Her  youth,  the  dignity 
and  grace  of  her  deportment,  the  responsibility,  not 
without  danger,  of  her  position,  drew  forth  all  the 
chivalry  of  his  nature.  There  could  be  no  doubt 
which  party  in  the  State  possessed  her  sympathies, 
and  at  her  proclamation  he  acted  as  sort  of  fugleman 
to  the  multitude,  and  regulated  their  acclamations. 
For  Ireland  the  future  seemed  full  of  hope. 

"  This," —  he  wrote  to  the  secretary  of  the  "  General 
Association," —  "  this  is  the  very  point  of  the  great  experi- 
ment we  are  making  to  ascertain  whether  or  not  Ireland 
can  be  well  and  justly  governed  by  an  Imperial  Legisla- 
ture, or  whether  we  shall  be  driven  back  to  look  for  a 
restoration  of  our  native  Parliament.  This  is  the  most 
happy  period  to  work  out  the  experiment.  Ireland  is 
now  prepared  to  amalgamate  with  the  entire  empire. 
We  are  prepared  for  full  and  perpetual  conciliation.  Let 
Cork  county  and  Yorkshire  be  put  on  a  footing  —  let 
Ireland  and  England  be  identified.  But  for  this  purpose 
equality — of  rights,  laws  and  liberties  —  is  essentially 
necessary.  We  desire  no  more,  we  will  not  take  less. 
A  real  effectual  union,  or  no  union  —  such  is  the 
alternative." 

At  the  general  election  in  July  he  strained  every 
nerve  to  ensure  the  success  of  the  Melbourne  ad- 
ministration. "The  Queen  and  her  Ministers," 
was  the  only  pledge  exacted  at  the  hustings,  and 
that  nothing  might  impede  the  work  of  conciliation 


312  Daniel  O'Connell.  ti835- 

he  gave  notice  of  his  intention  to  move  the  dissolu- 
tion of  the  "  General  Association." 

The  result  hardly  answered  his  sanguine  expecta- 
tions. With  all  the  support  he  could  furnish  them, 
the  Ministry  obtained  a  bare  majority  of  twenty-five. 
This,  and  the  fact  that  O'Connell  had  again  been  re- 
turned for  Dublin  by  an  insignificant  majority,  stimu- 
lated his  enemies  to  repeat  the  experiment  of  trying 
to  drive  him  out  of  Parliament  by  subjecting  him  to 
another  costly  election  petition.  A  society  was 
formed,  nicknamed,  from  the  circumstance  that  it 
was  presided  over  by  Mr.  Spottiswoode,  one  of  the 
Queen's  printers,  "  the  Spottiswoode  gang,"  and 
subscriptions  were  collected  for  the  avowed  purpose 
of  testing  the  legality  of  the  Irish  elections  whole- 
sale. The  uncertainty  with  which  election  petitions 
were  then  decided  by  committees,  whose  members 
not  unfrequently  preferred  the  claims  of  their  party 
to  those  of  strict  justice,  rendered  the  experiment 
really  a  formidable  conspiracy,  and  evoked  an  out- 
cry of  indignation,  not  only  from  its  intended  victims 
but  also  from  those  in  whom  the  spirit  of  fair  play 
had  not  been  altogether  extinguished  by  political 
passion.  Alluding  to  the  subject  at  a  meeting  in  the 
Crown  and  Anchor  tavern  on  21st  February,  1838, 
O'Connell,  after  denouncing  the  machinations  of  the 
"  Spottiswoode  gang "  in  no  measured  language, 
declared  it  was  time  to  speak  out  plainly  when 
gentlemen  who  ranked  high  in  society  persistently 
perjured  themselves  in  the  committees  of  the  House 
of  Commons.  For  himself,  he  was  ready  to  be  a 
martyr  to  justice  and  truth,  but  not  to  false  swearing. 


1840]    Ireland  tinder  Thomas  Drummond.     313 

and  he  repeated  that  there  was  foul  perjury  in  the 
Tory  committees  of  the  House  of  Commons.  Omit- 
ting tlie  word  "  Tory  "  from  the  last  sentence,  no  one 
dreamed  of  denying  the  statement ;  but  it  was  one 
thing  to  know  that  disputed  elections  were  decided 
according  to  the  political  colour  of  the  members 
composing  the  committees,  and  another  to  be  told  by 
an  Irish  demagogue  that  English  gentlemen  were 
habitually  guilty  of  perjury.  The  word  stuck  in 
Lord  Maidstone's  throat,  and  he  moved  that  O'Con- 
nell's  speech  was  a  false  and  scandalous  imputation 
upon  the  honour  of  the  House.  The  House  after 
an  acrimonious  discussion  endorsed  the  charge,  and 
by  226  votes  to  197  decided  that  O'Connell  should 
be  reprimanded  for  a  breach  of  its  privileges.  The 
day  came  that  was  to  witness  his  humiliation  ;  the 
Tory  benches  were  crowded  when  the  Speaker,  calling 
on  him  to  stand  up  in  his  place,  read  him  a  long 
and  severe  reproof  on  the  impropriety  of  his  con- 
duct. Without  even  resuming  his  seat,  O'Connell 
quietly  moved  for  the  appointment  of  a  committee 
to  investigate  the  matter,  and  to  the  astonishment 
of  the  House  then  and  there  repeated  his  charge. 
"  I  express,"  he  said,  "  no  regret :  I  retract  nothing. 
I  repent  nothing.  I  do  not  desire  unnecessarily  to 
use  harsh  or  offensive  language.  I  wish  I  could  find 
terms  less  objectionable  and  equally  significant ;  but  I 
can  not,  and  I  am  bound  to  reassert  what  I  asserted." 
He  fully  expected  to  be  committed,  and  had  made 
his  arrangements  accordingly  ;  but  to  his  amazement 
the  House  received  his  announcement  in  profound  si- 
lence, and  after  a  brief  interval,  convicted  by  its  own 


314  Daniel  O^ Connell.  [1835- 

conscience,  pzissed  to  the  order  of  the  day.  The  vic- 
tory he  had  won  did  not,  however,  prevent  the 
"  Spottiswoode  gang  "  continuing  its  efforts  to  oust 
him  from  his  seat ;  but  fortunately  the  fickle  favour  of 
the  ballot  returned  him  a  Liberal  committee  and, 
after  mulcting  him  in  £1000  expenses,  his  enemies 
allowed  him  to  escape. 

The  result  was  all  the  more  remarkable,  as  his 
popularity  in  Dublin  had  been  greatly  damaged  by 
his  recent  refusal  to  countenance  trades-unionism  in 
Ireland.  His  attitude  on  this  question,  as  on  the 
poor  laws  and  the  employment  of  child  labour  in 
factories,  is  of  course  open  to  criticism,  and  is  less 
likely  to  command  respect  in  the  present  day  than  it 
was  in  his  own.  Still,  if  the  doctrine  of  laisser-faire 
has  of  recent  years  fallen  somewhat  into  disrepute, 
owing  to  the  growing  complexity  of  the  conditions 
of  daily  life,  the  fact  does  not  detract  from  the 
courage  with  which  he  maintained  his  opinions  in  the 
face  of  such  opposition  as  he  had  never  before 
experienced  in  Ireland.  So  intense,  indeed,  was  the 
indignation  which  his  conduct  aroused  that,  for  days 
together  he  was  hooted  in  the  streets,  and  when  he 
offered  to  argue  the  question  his  voice  was  drowned 
in  a  storm  of  angry  yells  and  hisses.  Popularity  is 
dear  to  most  men  :  it  was  dear  to  O'Connell ;  but  it 
was  not  the  first,  nor  was  it  to  be  the  last,  time  in  his 
life  that  he  imperilled  it  in  obedience  to  the  dictates 
of  conscience.  As  he  had  without  hesitation  risked 
his  popularity,  so  did  he  a  few  weeks  later  sacrifice 
what  to  him  as  a  lawyer  was  probably  the  highest 
object  of  his  ambition.     On  17th  June  he  was  offered 


1840]    Ireland  under  Thomas  Drummond.    315 

by  Lord  Mulgravethe  position  of  Chief  Baron  of  the 
Exchequer,  rendered  vacant  through  the  death  of 
Baron  Joy.  He  decHned  the  office,  fearing  that, 
having  to  preside  over  a  court  which  had  exclusive 
cognisance  of  those  writs  of  rebellion  which  the 
tithe  war  had  called  into  existence,  he  might  not  be 
able  to  act  with  the  impartiality  required  from  him, 
and  that  his  desire  to  do  justice  to  his  political 
opponents  might  render  him  unjust  to  his  friends. 
Mulgrave  offered  to  make  arrangements  for  his  suc- 
ceeding to  the  Mastership  of  the  Rolls.  It  was  a 
tempting  offer.  "  You  know,"  he  wrote  to  Fitz- 
patrick,  "  that  if  I  took  anything,  it  would  be  the 
Rolls.  But  I  could  not  bring  myself  to  accept  it.  I 
am,  perhaps,  a  fool,  but  I  have  not  the  heart  to 
desert  Ireland  —  Ireland  that  never  yet  had  a  steady 
friend." 

Meanwhile  the  Melbourne  administration,  begin- 
ning its  Irish  legislation  de  novo,  but  taught  by 
experience  the  necessity  of  conciliating  opposition 
even  at  the  expense  of  its  principles,  had  succeeded 
in  passing  a  Tithe  Bill  shorn  of  the  appropriation 
clauses  to  which  it  originally  owed  its  existence,  and 
to  which  it  had  thitherto  pinned  its  reputation,  and  a 
Poor  Law  which  satisfied  neither  the  supporters  nor 
the  opponents  of  state-provided  relief.  Still,  so  long 
as  Drummond  governed  Ireland,  O'Connell  was 
content  to  overlook  its  legislative  shortcomings. 
"Blessed  be  Heaven,"  he  wrote  on  nth  August, 
"  that  the  session  is  over,  and  that  we  have  a  respite 
from  the  enemy  and  good  government  for  another 
year !  "     He  was  always  glad  to  get  back  to  Ireland  ; 


3i6  Daniel  O^ Connell.  ti835- 

but  life,  since  his  wife's  death,  was  beginning  to  lose 
its  interest  for  him,  and  his  thoughts  became  more 
and  more  concentrated  on  heaven  and  futurity.  The 
approach  of  autumn,  which  had  once,  with  its  hare- 
hunting,  been  to  him  the  happiest  period  of  the  year, 
filled  him  now  with  sad  reflections.  He  felt  lonely 
and  unhappy.  The  old  love  for  his  country  still 
burned  within  him  ;  but  his  success  had  been  so  little 
commensurate  with  his  hopes,  and  the  prospect  was 
far  from  bright.  He  was  growing  old  ;  the  bustle 
and  worry  of  political  strife  wearied  him,  and  on 
returning  to  Ireland,  instead  of  going  straight  to 
Darrynane,  as  his  custom  was,  he  retired  for  a  season 
to  the  quiet  cloisters  of  the  Cistercian  monastery  of 
Mount  Melleray,  in  county  Waterford.  He  was 
accompanied  by  O'Neill  Daunt,  who  has  placed  on 
record  his  impressions  of  the  journey  thither:  the 
questions  with  which  he  pestered  his  companion ; 
their  reception  by  the  abbot,  the  sub-prior  and  about 
twenty  of  the  brethren ;  the  vesper  hymn  and  the 
solemn  midnight  service  in  the  chapel  on  the  lonely 
hillside  during  a  terrific  thunder-storm.  But  Daunt, 
amiable  man  though  he  no  doubt  was,  was  but  a 
feeble  Boswell,  and  one  would  gladly  exchange  some 
of  his  prattle  for  a  glimpse  at  the  elements  of  the 
tragedy  that  was  beginning  to  work  itself  out  in 
O'Connell's  life. 

On  emerging  from  his  retreat,  O'Connell  again 
threw  himself  into  the  work  of  political  agitation. 
The  time,  he  saw,  could  not  be  far  distant  when  the 
Tories  would  once  more  be  in  power.  So  far  as  the 
Melbourne  ministry  was  concerned,  he  was  willing  to 


1840]    Ireland  under  Thomas  Drummond.     3 1 7 

give  it  credit  for  the  best  intentions  in  the  world  ;  he 
was  ready  to  believe  that  the  Queen  was  actuated 
by  the  "  noble  ambition  of  making  her  reign  cele- 
brated by  the  pure  and  perfect  pacification  of  Ire- 
land." But  it  was  clear  that  neither  the  ministry 
nor  even  the  Queen  could  procure  them  the  legislat- 
ive relief  they  asked  for.  What,  then,  was  to  be 
done?  What  else  but  "to  rouse  the  people  —  all 
the  people  of  Ireland  —  into  one  simultaneous  and 
combined  movement,  until  it  ceases  to  be  prudent 
for  the  Tories  to  oppose  our  just  claims?  "  For  this 
purpose  he  set  about  founding  a  "  Precursor  Society." 
The  title  exactly  expressed  what  he  meant  its  objects 
to  be.  "  The  Precursors,"  he  wrote,  "  may  precede 
justice  to  Ireland  from  the  United  Parliament  and 
the  consequent  dispensing  with  Repeal  agitation.  It 
may  precede  Repeal  agitation  —  and  will,  shall  and 
must  precede  Repeal  agitation  if  justice  be  refused." 
But  the  name  puzzled  common  people.  "  What," 
asked  an  English  traveller  of  his  car-driver,  "  is  the 
object  of  the  Precursor  Society  ? "  "  Pray-curse- 
Sir  !  "  was  the  ready  answer :  "  Why,  to  pray  curses 
on  the  inimies  of  Ireland,  to  be  sure !  " 

The  movement,  however,  despite  all  O'Connell's 
efforts  to  advertise  it,  failed  to  interest  the  public. 
Nor  is  the  reason  for  their  apathy  far  to  seek.  They 
had  heard  so  much  of  flapping  Repeal  about  the  ears 
of  Government  as  a  means  of  extorting  concessions 
that  they  could  not  bring  themselves  to  believe  that 
this  was  not  merely  another  threat  on  O'Connell's 
part.  Their  indifference  mortified  him  sorely.  The 
year,  in  fact,  was  full  of  bitterness  for  him.     In  May, 


3i8  Daniel  O'ComicU.  [1835- 

1839,  Melbourne  resigned.  The  maladroitness  of 
Wellington  and  Peel  in  insisting  on  the  dismissal  of 
the  Queen's  personal  attendants,  indeed,  immedi- 
ately restored  him  to  office,  and  gave  to  his  admin- 
istration a  faint  gleam  of  popularity  ;  but  everybody 
saw  that  the  downfall  of  the  Whigs  was  only  a  quest- 
ion of  time.  Once  more  the  Municipal  Bill  was  re- 
jected by  the  Lords,  and  nothing,  O'Connell  wrote 
bitterly,  remained  for  Ireland  but  Repeal.  The  ad- 
mission was  wrung  reluctantly  from  him.  He  had 
no  longer  any  hope  of  being  able  to  agitate  the  ques- 
tion successfully.  His  "  Precursor  "  experiment  had 
failed.  The  people  had  declined  to  answer  to  his 
summons.  Repeal  appeared  to  have  lost  all  interest 
for  them.  Old  age  was  stealing  on  him  fast ;  do- 
mestic affairs  troubled  him ;  he  was  oppressed  with 
debt,  and  the  streams  which  supplied  the  "Tribute  " 
seemed  drying  at  their  sources. 

"  I  am,  I  confess,"  he  wrote  confidentially  to  Fitzpat- 
rick  in  .August,  1839,  "  ^'^T  unhappy.  I  look  upon  my- 
self in  danger  of  ruin.  The  country  is  plainly  tired  out 
of  my  claims.  1  am,  indeed  unhappy.  .  .  .  I  do  not 
believe  I  will  long  survive  the  blow  I  apprehend  from 
the  desertion  of  me  by  the  country  at  large.  It  weighs 
upon  my  heart  and  interferes  with  my  health.  .  ,  . 
At  my  time  of  life,  mental  agony  is /tT/V^Awaj.  .  .  .  God 
help  me  !  What  shall  I  do  ?  I  think  of  giving  up  my  in- 
come, save  an  annuity  of  a  small  sum  to  myself  and  my 
two  sons,  and  going,  if  I  am  received,  to  Clongowes, 
to  spend  the  rest  of  my  life  there.  I  want  a  period  of  re- 
treat to  think  of  nothing  but  eternity.  I  sigh  when  I 
look  at  the  present  agitated  aspect  of  affairs,  foreign  and 


1840]    Ireland  under  Thomas  Drummond.     3 1 9 

domestic,  and  vainly  think  that,  if  Ireland  thought  fit  to 
support  me,  I  might  still  be  useful  ;  but  it  is  plain  I  have 
worn  out  my  claim  on  the  people.  ...  I  am,  I  believe, 
on  the  verge  of  illness — the  illness  of  despondency  ;  but 
it  is  clear  I  have  no  one  to  blame  but  myself.  I  hope 
against  hope  ;  that  is,  there  is  a  lurking  expectation  about 
me  of  relief,  which  my  more  sober  judgment  tells  me  can- 
not come.     Sometimes  my  hand  shakes  as  I  write." 

His  success  in  securing  the  rejection  of  the  Bank 
of  Ireland  Bill,  and  thereby  inflicting  a  defeat  on 
"  the  very  worst  of  the  Orange  confederacies,"  af- 
forded him  some  consolation,  and  under  the  influ- 
ence of  Fitzpatrick's  cheery  letter,  the  fit  of  gloom 
passed  slowly  away.  An  invitation  to  address  the 
Liberals  of  the  West  Riding  of  Cork  at  Bandon,  in 
December,  revived  his  hopes  of  effecting  a  union 
between  the  Protestants  and  Catholics,  and  his  hearty 
reception  at  the  Anti-Corn-Law  banquet  in  Man- 
chester, on  January  13,  1840,  was  a  refreshing  token 
of  his  undiminished  popularity  in  England.  The 
introduction  of  Stanley's  Registration  Bill,  by  giving 
him  a  foretaste  of  what  might  be  expected  from  the 
Tories,  completed  the  work  of  recovery.  "  The 
Bill,"  he  wrote,  "  shall  not  and  cannot  pass,  but  Ire- 
land must  be  roused."  He  sent  instructions  to  Fitz- 
patrick  to  get  up  a  great  meeting  in  Easter  week, 
and  on  18th  April  founded  the  Repeal  Association. 


CHAPTER  XIV- 

REPEAL  AGITATION. 

1840-  1843. 

THE  start  was  not  encouraging.  The  great  room 
of  the  Corn  Exchange,  capable  of  accommo- 
dating five  hundred  persons,  was  distressingly 
empty  when  O'Connell,  after  allowing  an  extra  half- 
hour  to  elapse,  rose  at  the  request  of  the  chairman, 
John  O'Neill  of  Fitzwilliam  Square, —  a  wealthy  and 
patriotic  Protestant  merchant  who,  having  assisted 
as  a  volunteer  in  the  victory  of  1782,  was  devoting 
his  declining  years  in  trying  to  recover  for  Ireland 
that  position  of  independence  she  had  lost  through 
the  Act  of  Union, — to  explain  the  objects  for  which 
he  had  caused  the  meeting  to  be  summoned.  He 
rose,  he  said,  with  a  deep  sense  of  the  awful  im- 
portance of  the  step  he  was  about  to  propose  to 
the  Irish  people,  and  with  a  full  knowledge  of  the 
difficulties  by  which  they  were  surrounded,  and  the 
obstacles  with  which  they  had  to  contend.  They 
were  about  to  enter  on  a  struggle  which  would  only 
terminate  when  ample  justice  had  been  done  to  Ire- 
land  by  placing  her  on  an  equality  with  her  sister 

320 


[1840-1843]  Repeal  Agitation.  321 

country,  or  by  the  establishment  of  their  legislative 
independence.  They  commenced  under  auspices 
that  might  appear  to  afford  little  prospect  of  ulti- 
mate success.  They  would  be  laughed  at  and  de- 
rided on  all  sides  ;  sneered  at  by  friends  who  believed 
everything  to  be  impracticable  ;  and  opposed  by  ma- 
lignant enemies  delighted  to  find  any  opportunity  of 
manifesting  their  hostility.  But  no  matter.  They 
had  been  derided  and  laughed  at  before,  when  they 
set  about  the  accomplishment  of  that  great  moral 
revolution  which  had  won  religious  freedom  for  them- 
selves and  others.  They  remembered  the  small  ori- 
gin of  the  Catholic  Association,  its  progress  and  its 
triumph.  They  were  assembled  to  take  part  in 
proceedings  that  would  be  memorable  in  the  history 
of  their  country.  But  to  this  purpose  they  must 
be  up  and  stirring.  They  must  not  forget  the  story 
of  the  fellow  who,  when  the  wheel  of  his  cart  stuck 
in  the  mud,  prayed  to  Jupiter  to  help  him.  "  You 
lazy  rascal,"  said  his  godship,  "  put  your  shoulder  to 
the  wheel,  and  get  along  out  of  that."  There  was 
nothing  else  for  them  but  to  help  themselves,  and 
help  themselves,  with  the  aid  of  Heaven,  they  would. 
The  Convention  Act,  rendering  representation  by 
delegation  illegal,  being  still  in  force,  the  machinery 
of  the  old  Catholic  Association  sufficed  for  working 
the  new  movement.  It  was  composed  of  three 
classes  —  Volunteers  contributing  ;^io  ;  Members 
paying  an  annual  subscription  of  ;^  i  ;  and  Repealers 
contributing  one  penny  a  month,  or  one  shilling  in 
the  year.  These  last  formed  the  backbone  of  the 
whole  enterprise.     The  progress  of  the  Association 


322  Daniel  O'Connell.  [1840- 

was  at  first  slow  and  uncertain.  This  was  to  be  ex- 
pected. For  so  long  as  the  Parliamentary  session 
required  O'Connell's  presence  in  London,  regular 
and  energetic  agitation  was  out  of  the  question. 
Naturally  those  who  expected  a  sudden  upheaval  of 
the  country  were  disappointed ;  but  O'Connell  pro- 
fessed himself  quite  satisfied  with  the  progress  that 
was  being  made.  Whatever  doubts  he  may  have 
had  as  to  the  success  of  the  experiment,  he  kept  them 
to  himself.  In  public  he  was  calm  and  confident. 
His  language  was  that  of  buoyant  youth.  To  hear 
him  speak,  to  watch  the  deliberateness  with  which  he 
formed  his  plans,  one  would  have  imagined  that,  in- 
stead of  having  sixty-five,  he  had  only  twenty-five 
years  behind  him.  One  thing  was  in  his  favour.  He 
was  in  earnest.  People,  he  said,  had  only  to  find  that 
out,  and  the  movement  would  spread  like  fire  before 
the  wind.     The  result  justified  his  confidence. 

Meanwhile,  the  Whigs  still  managed  to  retain 
office,  and  though  death  had  robbed  Ireland  in  the 
early  spring  of  the  year  of  that  "  tarn  cari  capitis," 
Thomas  Drummond,  the  result  of  the  session  was 
not  altogether  unsatisfactory.  Not  only  had  Stan- 
ley's insidious  proposal  to  limit  the  elective  franchise 
in  Ireland  been,  for  the  nonce,  frustrated,  but  the 
Lords,  tired  out,  apparently,  with  the  pertinacity 
with  which  they  were  assailed,  had  at  last  consented 
to  pass  an  emaciated  Municipal  Reform  Bill.  Re- 
turning to  Ireland  about  the  middle  of  July,  O'Con- 
nell at  once  resumed  the  work  of  agitation.  He  was 
fortunate  enough  to  secure  the  adhesion  of  the  Cath- 
olic Archbishop  of  Tuam,  and  with  his  assistance 


1843]  Repeal  Agitation.  323 

successfully  launched  the  Repeal  cause  in  Connaught. 
The  circle  of  agitation  widened  gradually,  and  feel- 
ing that  he  might  safely  enjoy  a  month's  recreation 
with  his  beagles,  he  proceeded  to  Darrynane  about 
the  latter  end  of  August,  leaving  the  management 
of  the  Association  temporarily  in  the  hands  of  its 
Secretary,  T.  M.  Ray,  and  his  son  John. 

Never  since  the  death  of  his  wife  had  Darrynane 
been  so  welcome  to  him  as  it  was  at  this  time  ;  never 
had  the  air  of  his  mountain  home  seemed  more  ex- 
hilarating ;  never  the  music  of  his  beagles  sweeter. 
The  fresh  sea  breezes,  the  open-air  exercise,  were  like 
medicine  to  him.  Under  their  combined  influence 
his  mind  recovered  tone,  his  step  some  of  its  old 
elasticity.  The  feeling  of  despondency,  which  had  of 
late  years  weighed  upon  him  like  a  pall,  gave  way  to 
a  more  hopeful  view  of  things  in  general,  and  when 
the  ail-too  short  vacation  drew  to  a  close  it  found 
him  once  more  ready  for  the  turmoil  of  political 
strife.  He  had  arranged  to  address  a  mass-meeting 
at  Cork  on  5th  October.  The  day  of  his  departure 
came.  He  was  up  at  six  o'clock.  From  Darrynane 
to  Sheen  is  ten  miles,  as  the  crow  flies.  He  hunted 
the  whole  distance  on  foot,  and  bidding  his  dogs  and 
retainers  adieu,  proceeded  alone  to  Killarney.  There 
he  met  O'Neill  Daunt  by  appointment,  and  in  his 
company  completed  the  remainder  of  the  journey 
to  Cork.  Never  had  Daunt  found  him  a  more  agree- 
able companion.  At  almost  every  turn  of  the  road 
something  would  occur  to  arrest  his  attention  and  to 
suggest  an  anecdote.  Occasionally,  when  both  re- 
lapsed into  silence  he  would  break  it,  revealing  the 


324  Daniel  O'Confiell.  [1840- 

current  of  his  thoughts  by  repeating  one  of  his  fa- 
vourite hymns — 

"  Lauda  Sion  salvatorem 
Lauda  Ducem  et  Pastorem,"  etc. 

or  the  one  beginning 

"  Stabat  Mater  Dolorosa 
Juxta  crucem  lachrymosa 

Dum  pendebat  filius." 

As  they  approached  Cork  a  vast  concourse  of  peo- 
ple had  assembled  to  welcome  him  at  George  the 
Fourth's  Bridge,  which  spans  the  Lee  about  a  mile 
to  the  west  of  the  city.  In  their  desire  to  honour 
him  they  would  fain  have  taken  the  horses  from  the 
carriage  in  order  to  drag  it  themselves  into  Cork, 
and  it  was  with  no  little  difficulty  that  O'Connell 
compelled  them  to  desist  from  their  purpose.  "  No  ! 
no  !  no ! "  he  exclaimed.  "  I  never  will  let  men  do 
the  business  of  horses  if  I  can  help  it !  Don't  touch 
that  harness,  you  vagabonds !  I  am  trying  to  ele- 
vate your  position,  and  I  will  not  permit  you  to  de- 
grade yourselves." 

The  meeting  in  Batty's  Circus  was  a  great  success, 
nor  was  it  in  the  opinion  of  his  hearers  any  dispar- 
agement to  O'Connell's  speech  that  it  was  redolent 
of  Darrynane.  A  London  journalist  had  derisively 
compared  the  Repeal  cry  to  the  cry  of  the  Darry- 
nane beagles.  "  Aye,"  retorted  O'Connell,  "  but 
the  fellow  made  a  better  hit  than  he  intended,  for 
my  beagles  never  cease  their  cry  until  they  catch 
their  game."  Next  day  he  and  Daunt  proceeded 
to   Limerick.     On   the   road    they    were    accosted 


L 


1843]  Repeal  Agitation.  325 

by  a  beggar,  who  supported  his  demand  for  alms 
by  claiming  personal  acquaintance  with  the  Lib- 
erator. "But,  my  good  man,  I  never  saw  you 
before."  "  Sure,"  returned  the  applicant,  "  that  *s 
not  what  your  honour's  son  would  say,  for  he  got 
me  a  place  in  Glasnevin  Cemetery,  only  I  had  n't 
the  luck  to  keep  it."  "  Then,  indeed,  you  were 
strangely  unlucky,"  rejoined  O'Connell,  laughing, 
"  for  those  who  have  places  in  cemeteries  generally 
keep  them."  Shortly  before  reaching  Limerick, 
they  were  met  by  a  procession  of  ship-carpen- 
ters who  had  arranged  a  sort  of  aquatic  fete  in 
his  honour.  The  idea  of  meeting  Neptune  on 
the  dusty  highway  tickled  O'Connell's  fancy,  and, 
entering  into  the  spirit  of  the  comedy,  he  expressed 
in  appropriate  language  his  high  sense  of  "  the  con- 
descending courtesy  of  the  illustrious  monarch  of 
the  deep."  From  Limerick,  where  he  was  enter- 
tained at  a  public  banquet  in  the  theatre,  and  made 
a  powerful  appeal  for  support  to  the  patriotism  of 
his  audience  by  alluding  to  the  history  of  "  the 
city  of  the  violated  treaty,"  he  continued  his  way 
to  Ennis.  Here  he  addressed  another  large  repeal 
gathering.  From  Ennis  he  proceeded  to  Dublin, 
which  he  reached  on  the  nth.  Three  days  after- 
wards there  was  a  great  provincial  meeting  at  Kil- 
kenny —  the  first  of  the  "  Precursor  Monsters," 
as  the  meetings  held  at  the  time  were  afterwards 
dubbed.  Daunt  calculated  that  two  hundred  thou- 
sand persons  were  present  on  Croker's  Hill ;  but  John 
O'Connell,  who  occupied  the  position  of  chairman, 
placed  the  number,  probably  with  greater  exactitude. 


326  Daniel  O^Connell.  [1840- 

at  eighty  thousand.  It  was  a  bleak,  windy  day,  and 
the  chairman's  teeth  chattered  in  his  head  ;  but  the 
enthusiasm  of  O'Connell's  Hsteners  kept  them  warm, 
and  they  were  well  rewarded  for  their  patience  by 
hearing  one  of  the  most  eloquent  speeches  he  ever 
delivered.  A  fortnight  later  there  was  another 
meeting  at  Waterford,  followed  by  one  next  day  at 
Carrick-on-Suir  :  after  which,  O'Connell  again  re- 
turned to  Darrynane. 

So  far  the  Repeal  movement  had  not  proved  as 
successful  as  he  had  either  hoped  or  expected.  But 
the  general  apathy  of  the  country  did  not  dis- 
courage him.  He  had,  as  he  said,  nailed  his  colours 
to  the  mast  and  meant  to  stick  by  them.  The  ex- 
citement of  the  agitation  did  him  good.  His  health 
was  better  than  it  had  been  for  a  long  time  past ;  for 
the  nonce,  thanks  to  Fitzpatrick,  he  had  forgotten  all 
about  his  debts,  and  looked  forward  to  the  future 
with  all  the  buoyant  hopefulness  of  youth.  On  21st 
December  he  was  back  again  in  Dublin,  speaking  the 
same  evening  at  a  Charity  Dinner.  His  energy,  his 
confidence,  his  patience,  seemed  boundless.  To  one 
who,  remembering  the  Catholic  Association,  had  hap- 
pened at  this  time  to  look  into  that  long,  low,  and 
badly  lighted  room  in  which  the  Committee  trans- 
acted its  business,  it  might  have  seemed,  at  first 
sight,  as  if  the  clock  of  time  had  come  to  a  stand- 
still. Nothing  appeared  to  have  changed.  Now,  as 
then,  it  was  the  same  man,  only  older,  stouter,  and 
more  careworn,  that  directed  its  proceedings,  no  one 
dreaming  of  questioning  his  right  or  capability  to 
do  so. 


1843]  Repeal  Agitation.  327 

"  Amid  the  best  and  noblest  of  our  isle 

There  was  the  same  majestic  form,  the  same  heart-kin- 
dling smile  ; 

But  grief  was  on  that  princely  brow  —  for  others  still  he 
mourn'd. 

He  gazed  upon  poor  fetter'd  slaves,  and  his  heart  within 
him  burn'd  : 

And  he  vowed  before  the  captive's  God  to  break  the 
captive's  chain, 

To  bind  the  broken  heart  and  set  the  bondsman  free 
again. 

And  fit  was  he  our  chief  to  be,  in  triumph  or  in  need, 

Who  never  wrong'd  his  deadliest  foe  in  thought,  or  word, 
or  deed." 

New  Year's  Day,  1841,  was  celebrated  in  appro- 
priate fashion  by  an  open-air  meeting  at  Howth.  To 
the  fishermen,  who  formed  the  bulk  of  his  audience, 
O'Connell  promised  that  when  they  recovered  their 
national  parliament  the  price  of  fish  would  rise. 
"You'll  have  to  steal  more  dogs,  then,  to  make 
buoys  of,"  said  he  jocularly,  alluding  to  an  alleged 
malpractice  among  them.  The  remark  was  received 
with  roars  of  laughter.  "  See  how  he  's  up  to  that 
same !  "  exclaimed  an  old  salt,  in  admiration  at  the 
apparent  omniscience  of  the  Counsellor.  The  day 
following,  a  Dublin  newspaper  announced  under  the 
heading,  "  Keep  Moving  "  : 

"  Mr.  O'Connell  stands  pledged  to  the  following  en- 
gagements :  To  attend  the  Repeal  Association  on  the 
4th  ;  to  preside  at  an  Orphan  Charity  Dinner  on  the  5th  ; 
to  agitate  for  Repeal  in  MuUingar  on  the  7th  ;  in  Cork 
on  the  nth,  and  in  Dungarvan  on  the  13th  ;  to  attend  a 


328  Daniel  O'Connell.  [1840- 

Reform  meeting  in  Dublin  on  the  15th,  and  in  Belfast  on 
the  i8th  ;  on  the  19th  to  attend  a  Repeal  dinner  in  the 
same  town  ;  on  the  21st  and  22nd  a  Reform  meeting  and 
dinner  at  Leeds  ;  on  the  23rd  a  Reform  meeting  at 
Leicester  ;  and  on  the  26th  to  take  his  seat  in  the  House 
of  Commons,  attired  in  his  grey  frieze  Repeal  coat." 

He  kept  his  engagement  to  the  letter.  Many  of 
his  friends,  fearing  for  his  personal  safety,  did  their 
best  to  dissuade  him  from  going  to  Belfast  and  beard- 
ing the  Orangemen  in  their  stronghold.  Their  fears, 
as  O'Connell  found,  were  not  without  reason.  As  he 
passed  through  Lisburn  a  day  before  he  was  ex- 
pected, under  the  assumed  name  and  character  of 
C.  A.  Charles,  a  celebrated  ventriloquist,  his  atten- 
tion was  arrested  by  a  placard,  headed  in  large 
letters,  "  O'Connell's  Insult  to  the  North,"  remind- 
ing the  good  "  Protestants  "  of  the  town  that  exactly 
two  centuries  had  elapsed  since  Phelim  O'Neill,  with 
his  rabble  rout,  had  been  defeated  by  a  few  of  Lord 
Conway's  troops  in  Castle  Street,  and  calling  on  them 
to  treat  O'Connell  and  his  Kailrunt  infantry  "  to  a 
thunder  of  Northern  Repeal  "  that  would  astonish 
the  brewers  of  sedition  and  treason,  and  put  to  rout 
his  "  darlint  pisintry."  Under  the  direction  of 
"  Derrj'  Dawson  "  and  the  Rev.  Dr.  Cook  —  the 
Dr.  Kane  of  that  day  —  the  Orangemen  certainly 
succeeded  in  making  Belfast  "  hot "  for  him.  In 
anticipation  of  a  riot,  Government  had  drafted  five 
companies  of  foot,  two  troops  of  horse,  and  two 
thousand  extra  policemen  into  the  town  for  the  pur- 
pose of  protecting  his  meeting ;  but  their  presence 
did  not  prevent  an  Orange  mob  from  smashing  the 


1843]  Repeal  Agitation.  329 

windows  of  the  hall  in  which  he  held  his  Temperance 
Soiree,  and  from  paying  a  similar  compliment  to  the 
hotel  where  he  had  taken  up  his  quarters.  He 
escaped  without  personal  injury  ;  but  the  experi- 
ment of  assailing  the  Orangemen  in  their  stronghold 
was  one  that  he  was  not  tempted  to  repeat. 

In  consequence  of  a  direct  vote  of  want  of  confi- 
dence in  his  administration,  Lord  Melbourne  dis- 
solved Parliament  in  June.  O'Connell,  who  had  long 
foreseen  the  event,  took  a  pessimistic  view  of  the  situ- 
ation. "  If  the  Tories,"  he  wrote,  "  carry  the  repre- 
sentation of  Ireland,  and,  in  particular,  of  Dublin,  they 
will  totally  deprive  us  of  the  benefit  of  the  corporate 
reform."  The  result  of  the  general  election  went 
far  to  confirm  his  anticipations.  He  himself  lost  his 
seat  for  Dublin,  and  had  to  take  refuge  at  Cork.  Of  his 
once  famous  "  tail,"  hardly  a  dozen  obtained  re-elec- 
tion. On  the  whole,  however,  the  Whigs  managed  to 
hold  their  own  in  Ireland,  and  O'Connell's  election 
as  Lord  Mayor  of  the  reformed  corporation,  on  ist 
November,  completely  effaced  the  bad  effects  of  his 
rejection  as  M.P.  He  was  the  first  Roman  Catholic 
that  had  held  the  oflSce  in  all  the  hundred  and  fifty 
years  that  had  elapsed  since  the  Revolution.  Natur- 
ally, to  those  of  his  own  creed  his  capture  of  this 
hitherto  impregnable  fortress  of  Orangeism  was  a 
matter  of  infinite  satisfaction.  His  enemies,  of 
course,  expressed  their  certain  conviction  that  he 
would  misuse  his  office  for  political  purposes.  But  it 
must  be  confessed  that  his  conduct,  during  his  tenure 
of  it,  furnished  little  justification  for  the  assertion. 
Replying  to  a  question  put  to  him  shortly  before  the 


330  Daniel  O' Council.  [1840- 

election  by  Alderman  Boyce,  as  to  how  he  would  act 
in  his  capacity  of  Lord  Mayor  upon  the  Repeal 
question,  he  had  pledged  himself  that  in  his  capacity 
of  Lord  Mayor  no  one  should  be  able  to  discover 
from  his  conduct  what  his  politics  were,  and  of  what 
shade  were  the  religious  tenets  he  held.  In  his  in- 
dividual capacity,  however,  he  was  a  Repealer — to 
his  last  breath,  a  Repealer — because  he  was  thor- 
oughly, honestly,  and  conscientiously,  though  per- 
haps mistakenly,  convinced  that  the  repeal  of  the 
Union  would  be  fraught  with  the  richest  benefits  to 
their  common  country.  His  language  to  the  crowd 
that  cheered  him  to  his  house,  after  the  election,  was 
couched  in  the  same  strain.  They  had  that  day  won 
a  great  and  memorable  victory:  they  had  won  it 
without  riot,  tumult,  or  bloodshed.  Who  should  say 
in  the  face  of  it  that  they  would  not  achieve  the  res- 
toration of  their  own  Parliament  in  a  similar  way  ? 
Meantime  he  called  on  them  to  enjoy  their  triumph 
in  a  manner  worthy  of  the  day,  and  to  let  their  de- 
meanour be  characterised  by  kindliness,  beneficence, 
and  charity  to  all  men,  giving  thanks  to  an  all-boun- 
teous Providence  for  having  permitted  them  to  see 
the  realisation  of  such  blessings  for  their  long-afflicted 
country. 

He  himself  set  them  an  admirable  example.  "  It 
amuses  me  much,"  he  said,  "  to  think  that  on  the 
very  first  day  of  my  sitting  I  had  to  make  a  decree 
against  a  priest."  But  more  significant  of  his  desire 
to  conciliate  his  opponents  even  than  his  impartiality 
on  the  bench  was  the  arrangement  he  effected,  by 
which  Catholics  and   Protestants  were  to  hold  the 


1843]  Repeal  Agitation.  331 

mayoral  chair  each  year  in  alternate  succession. 
Green  Street  court  presented  an  animated  scene 
when  he  took  his  seat  for  the  first  time  on  the  mag- 
isterial bench.  He  was  much  amused  at  the  diffi- 
culty the  tip-staves  had  in  keeping  it  clear  for 
business.  "  In  Cork,  I  remember,"  he  said,  "  the 
crier  trying  to  disperse  the  crowd  by  exclaiming: 
'  All  ye  blackguards  that  is  n't  lawyers  quit  the 
coort.' "  For  himself  he  felt  the  honour  conferred 
on  him  intensely,  though  the  execution  of  his  office 
entailed  much  personal  discomfort  and,  what  he  de- 
plored most  of  all,  compelled  him  to  forego  his  usual 
visit  to  Darrynane.  When  it  was  known  at  Darry- 
nane  that  pressure  of  business  would  prevent  his 
leaving  Dublin,  and  that  that  year  there  would  be  no 
hare  hunting,  the  grief  of  his  retainers  was  inex- 
pressible. "  There  was,"  his  son  John  wrote,  "  quite 
a  scene  upon  the  mountain  yesterday  when  Denis 
McCruachan  told  the  huntsmen  you  could  not  come. 
Two  or  three  of  them,  led  by  Curramac,  fairly  sat 
down  and  cried.  .  .  .  There  are  curses  *  not  loud,  but 
deep  *  on  all  corporations  that  ever  existed." 

The  Loyal  National  Repeal  Association  continued 
to  meet  as  usual  in  the  Corn  Exchange ;  but  O'Con- 
nell's  resolution  to  act  impartially  in  his  capacity  of 
Lord  Mayor  led  to  a  practical  suspension  of  the 
agitation  during  his  year  of  office.  His  resolution 
did  not,  however,  prevent  his  attending  to  his  par- 
liamentary duties.  He  was  in  his  seat  at  the  com- 
mencement of  the  session  on  3rd  February,  1842, 
and  remained  in  London  till  Parliament  rose  in  Au- 
gust.    But,  with  the  exception  of  Peel's  income-tax 


332  Daniel  O'Cotineil.  [1840- 

proposal,  which  he  combated  on  the  ground  that 
it  was  essentially  a  war  tax,  advising  the  substi- 
tution for  it  of  a  legacy  duty  on  real  property,  and 
the  debate  on  the  Distress  of  the  Country,  the  pro- 
ceedings of  Parliament  interested  him  only  slightly. 
It  was  during  the  latter  debate  that,  in  reply  to  a 
taunt  thrown  out  from  the  ministerial  bench  that  the 
Opposition,  while  criticising  the  policy  of  the  Govern- 
ment, had  offered  no  practical  suggestion  for  the 
relief  of  the  nation,  he  uttered  the  memorable  words : 

"  There  is  a  plan.  The  simplest  housewife  could  adopt 
it.  The  people  are  hungry.  Let  them  eat.  They  said 
there  was  no  food.  Let  them  tell  him  no  such  thing. 
There  were  at  the  moment  he  spoke  upwards  of  a  million 
and  a  half  quarters  of  wheat  lying  in  bond,  waiting  until 
higher  prices  became  high  enough  for  the  landlords  to 
allow  the  people  to  be  fed." 

For  some  time  he  hoped  that  between  their  Com 
Law  and  Budget  proposals  the  ministry  would  fall  to 
the  ground  ;  but  as  he  saw  the  danger  safely  tided 
over  and  the  end  of  his  mayoralty  coming  in  view, 
he  began  to  make  preparations  for  renewing  the 
agitation  in  Ireland, 

"  So  soon  as  I  arrive  in  Ireland,"  he  wrote  to  Fitz- 
patrick,  on  6th  August,  "  I  will  publish  my  address  to  my 
own  constituents  ;  all  I  desire  is,  to  make  them,  clergy 
and  laity,  understand  the  real  position  of  public  affairs. 
I  want  every  Irishman  to  be  convinced  of  this  truth  : 
that  there  is  nothing  worth  looking  for  save  the  power 
of  governing  ourselves,  and  of  husbanding  our  national 
resources  by  the  restoration  of  our  domestic  legislature. 
Have,  I  repeat  it,  prepared  a  list  of  all  the  parishes  in 


1843]  Repeal  Agitation.  333 

Leinster,  with  the  names  of  the  clergy  of  each  parish, 
and  of  every  layman  therein,  who  shall  have  taken,  at 
any  bygone  time,  an  active  part  in  the  Repeal  agitation. 
It  is  by  detailed  and  persevering  exertions  that  public 
opinion  will  recover  its  tone  and  energy  in  Ireland." 

A  few  days  afterwards  he  landed  at  Kingstown. 
His  son  John  happened  at  the  time  to  be  staying  at 
Monkstown,  near  Dunleary,  for  the  sake  of  the  sea 
air,  and,  paying  him  a  visit  there  in  company  with 
O'Neill  Daunt,  the  latter  thought  he  had  never  seen 
him  more  lively  and  animated,  or  more  disposed  to 
enjoy  himself  and  to  contribute  to  the  merriment  of 
others  than  he  was  on  this  occasion.  Besides  O'Con- 
nell,  his  son  John,  and  Daunt,  there  were  present  the 
Secretary  of  the  Association,  T.  M.  Ray,  and  Tom 
Steele,  of  Clare  election  fame,  shortly  to  be  promoted 
"  Head  Pacificator  "  of  the  Association.  Naturally, 
the  subject  uppermost  in  the  minds  of  all  of  them 
was  Repeal.  None  of  them  were  satisfied  with  the 
slow  progress  the  agitation  was  making ;  but  the 
difficulty  was  to  find  some  means  of  stimulating  it. 
After  discussing  the  situation  for  some  time,  O'Con- 
nell  suggested  to  his  companions  that  they  should 
each  undertake  a  separate  mission  for  the  purpose  of 
preaching  up  Repeal  in  the  three  provinces  of  Lein- 
ster, Munster,  and  Connaught.  The  suggestion  was 
readily  adopted,  and  on  I2th  September  the  three 
"  Repeal  Inspectors,"  as  they  were  dubbed,  John 
O'Connell,  Ray,  and  Daunt,  set  out  from  Dublin  on 
their  respective  missions.  Meanwhile,  O'Connell  was 
enjoying  himself  to  the  top  of  his  bent  at  Darrynane. 
It  was  a  delightful  autumn  ;  his  pack  was  in  splendid 


334  Datiiel  O'Cofuiell.  [1840- 

condition,  killing,  as  he  boasted,  with  ease  six  or  sev- 
en hares  a  day  ;  and  no  one,  seeing  him  at  their  heels 
clearing  stone  dykes  and  bog-holes  with  more  agility 
than  many  a  younger  man,  could  have  believed  that 
he  had  entered  on  his  sixty-seventh  year.  In  October 
he  was  recalled  to  Dublin.  His  year  of  office  as 
Lord  Mayor  had  almost  expired,  and  he  rejoiced  at 
the  prospect  of  being  shortly  relieved  from  its  multi- 
plied annoyances.  "  A  fortnight  more,"  he  said,  with 
a  laugh,  "  and  I  shall  have  the  privilege  of  knocking 
down  any  man  who  calls  me  '  My  Lord.* "  But 
what  a  fortnight  it  was  !  Thirteen  days,  the  time 
limited  by  statute,  in  which  to  revise  the  burgess- 
roll  of  the  city,  containing  eighteen  thousand  names 
each  to  be  severally  investigated  !  The  thing  was 
impossible,  and  wagers  were  freely  made  against  his 
being  able  to  accomplish  it.  To  the  astonishment  of 
everybody,  he  succeeded  five  minutes  before  the 
time  had  elapsed.  It  was  a  herculean  task  ;  but 
O'Connell  felt  confident  of  his  ability  to  perform  it, 
and  even  found  time  for  a  passing  joke. 

The  name  of  Myles  Magrath  being  called,  one  of 
the  collectors  was  asked  what  profession  Mr.  Magrath 
belonged  to  ? 

Collector — "  He  is  crier  in  the  Court  of  Con- 
science." 

Lord  Mayor — "  Mr.  Magrath  would  have  to  cry 
a  long  time,  indeed,  in  that  court  before  conscience 
would  answer  his  calls  there." 

A  gentleman  complained  that  his  name  had  been 
written  Smith,  and  not,  as  it  should  have  been, 
Smyth,  on  the  roll. 


1843]  Repeal  Agitation.  335 

Lord  Mayor — "  You  wish  to  have  your  name 
spelt  Smyth,  and  not  Smith  ?  " 

Mr.  Smyth — "  Exactly,  my  Lord.  You  were 
under  the  impression  that  I  was  S-m-i-t-h,  and  when 
remonstrated  with  to  spell  it  S-m-y-t-h,  you  are  re- 
ported to  have  said  to  Mr.  Stokes  that  you  would  not 
knock  out  my  i  to  please  him  ;  that  I  was  a  smith 
at  all  events,  and  that  I  might  hammer  away.  Pray 
have  the  error  rectified." 

Lord  Mayor  (laughing) — "  Oh,  certainly,  Sir.  I 
am  sorry  that  you  were  occasioned  any  uneasiness. 
We  will  knock  out  your  i,  since  you  desire  it,  and 
we  '11  give  you  a  y  with  a  sweeping  tail  as  long  as 
my  own." 

The  first  of  November  came,  and  O'Connell,  having 
surrendered  the  insignia  of  his  ofifice  to  his  successor, 
Alderman  George  Roe,  and  congratulated  the  citi- 
zens of  Dublin  on  having  been  able  to  select  for 
their  chief  magistrate  a  man  of  such  high  character, 
"  who,  in  a  country  where  party  spirit  unfortunately 
ran  to  too  high  a  pitch,  had  been  so  singularly  fortu- 
nate as  to  conciliate  to  himself  the  good  wishes  and 
good  opinions  of  all  classes  indiscriminately,"  re- 
turned to  Darrynane.  Meanwhile,  the  missionary 
efforts  of  the  three  "  Repeal  Inspectors,"  Daunt, 
Ray,  and  John  O'Connell  were  beginning  to  bear 
fruit.  Not  only  did  the  Repeal  Rent,  in  conse- 
quence of  their  exertions,  take  what  was  then  con- 
sidered a  great  jump  from  £/^o  to  ;^  150  a  week,  but 
they  were  fortunate  in  removing  much  of  the  in- 
grained suspicion  existing  in  the  popular  mind  as  to 
the    sincerity  of  the  agitation.     Still  it   had  to  be 


336  Dajiiel  O'Confiell.  [1840- 

confessed  that  the  progress  being  made  was  not 
commensurate  with  the  energy  expended  over  it, 
and  each  day  made  it  clearer  that  unless  some  means 
were  devised  of  stimulating  it,  the  movement  would, 
like  its  predecessors,  expire  of  inanition. 

In  this  dilemma  all  eyes  were  directed  to  Darry- 
nane  where,  in  his  retirement,  O'Connell  was  anx- 
iously pondering  over  the  situation.  Light  at  last 
broke  in  upon  him.  On  21st  January,  1843,  he  came 
up  to  Dublin,  and  a  few  days  later  announced  his 
intention  of  moving  in  the  Dublin  Corporation  on 
2 1st  February  a  resolution  affirmatory  of  the  right  of 
Ireland  to  a  resident  Parliament.  The  words  of  the 
resolution  recall  to  mind  the  famous  Declaration  of 
Rights  submitted  by  Grattan  to  the  Irish  House  of 
Commons  on  19th  April,  1780.  Sixty  years  and  more 
had  passed  away  since  the  Irish  Parliament  had  con- 
firmed Grattan's  resolution.  In  1843,  Ireland  pos- 
sessed not  even  the  form  of  a  Parliament  to  which 
such  an  appeal  could  be  addressed.  What  little 
spark  of  national  life  still  survived  existed  only  in 
her  corporations.  During  the  debate  on  the  Muni- 
cipal Corporations  Bill,  O'Connell  had  promised  to 
blow  that  spark  into  a  flame,  and  out  of  every  cor- 
poration to  create  a  normal  school  for  peaceful  agita- 
tion in  Ireland.  The  time  had  come  for  him  to 
keep  his  promise  and  put  his  theory  to  the  test.  The 
postponement  of  the  motion  for  a  week  added  an 
extra  fillip  to  popular  expectation.  On  28th  Feb- 
ruary, from  an  early  hour  in  the  morning,  William 
Street  was  thronged  with  people.  It  was  eleven 
o'clock  before  the  Lord  Mayor  arrived,  and  when 


1843]  Repeal  Agitation.  337 

O'Connell  shortly  afterwards  rose  to  address  the 
meeting,  the  Hall  was  crowded  to  suffocation.  The 
cheers  that  greeted  him  showed  unmistakably  on 
which  side  the  sympathies  of  his  audience  were. 
But  he  had  not,  he  said,  come  there  to  convince 
those  whom  experience  had  already  convinced  by 
the  irresistible  evidence  of  their  senses.  He  was 
there  to  address  his  arguments  to  the  entire  Irish 
nation  —  to  the  British  people  —  to  the  civilized 
world.     He  had  nine  propositions  to  demonstrate: 

First :  The  capability  and  capacity  of  the  Irish  na- 
tion for  an  independent  legislature. 

Second :  The  perfect  right  of  Ireland  to  have  a  do- 
mestic Parliament. 

Third :  That  that  right  was  fully  established  by  the 
transactions  of  1782. 

Fourth  :  That  the  most  beneficial  effects  to  Ireland 
resulted  from  her  parliamentary  independence. 

Fifth  :  The  utter  incompetence  of  the  Irish  Parlia- 
ment to  annihilate  the  Irish  Constitution  by 
the  Union. 

Sixth:  That  the  Union  was  no  contract  or  bargain; 
that  it  was  carried  by  the  greatest  corruption 
and  bribery,  added  to  force,  fraud,  and  terror. 

Seventh:  That  the  Union  produced  the  most  disas- 
trous results  to  Ireland. 

Eighth  :  That  the  Union  can  be  abolished  by  peace- 
able constitutional  means,  without  the  violation 
of  law,  and  without  the  destruction  of  property 
and  life. 


338  Daniel  O' ConnelL  [1840- 

Ninth:  That  the  most  salutary  results,  and  none 
other,  must  arise  from  a  repeal  of  the  Union. 

He  spoke  for  four  hours.  His  speech  is,  by  gen- 
eral consent,  regarded  as  the  ablest  plea  ever  uttered 
on  behalf  of  the  repeal  of  the  Union.  It  possessed 
all  the  merits  and  none  of  the  defects  of  that  which 
he  had  delivered  before  the  House  of  Commons  in 
1834.  It  was  vigorous,  well  arranged,  and  well 
spoken.  The  task  of  replying  to  it  devolved  on  a 
young  Conservative  barrister  of  great  promise  — 
Isaac  Butt,  whose  subsequent  career  as  leader  of  the 
national  party  furnished  the  best  refutation  of  the 
arguments  he  employed  on  this  occasion.  Other 
speakers  took  part  in  the  debate.  On  the  third  day 
the  corporation  divided  :  forty-five  voting  in  fa- 
vour of  the  resolution,  fifteen  against  it.  Almost  as 
important  as  the  matter  of  the  debate  was  the  man- 
ner in  which  it  was  conducted.  If  the  Dublin  Cor- 
poration could  discuss  the  repeal  of  the  Union  with 
so  much  candour,  intelligence,  and  courtesy,  what 
reason  was  there,  it  was  pertinently  asked,  for  sup- 
posing that  an  Irish  House  of  Commons  must 
necessarily  resemble  a  bear  garden  ? 

The  effect  of  the  Corporation  Debate  was  magi- 
cal. The  agitation,  which  had  hitherto  hung  fire, 
broke  at  once  into  full  activity.  The  Repeal  Rent 
which,  up  to  that  time,  had  found  its  way  into  the 
treasury  of  the  Association  in  driblets  and  by  circuit- 
ous routes,  now  began  to  flow  in  a  continuous  stream. 
In  February,  for  the  whole  month,  it  had  only 
amounted  to  about  ;^300 ;  in  May  it  had  risen  to 
over  £2000  a  week,  and  by  the  end  of  the  year  it 


18431  Repeal  Agitation.  339 

reached  a  grand  total  of  ;^48,ooo.  So  rapidly  did 
the  number  of  the  Repealers  increase  that,  in  March, 
the  great  room  in  the  Corn  Exchange  was  found 
wholly  inadequate  to  accommodate  those  seeking 
admission,  and  on  the  30th  of  that  month  O'Con- 
nell  laid  the  foundation  stone  of  a  new  building, 
capable  of  accommodating  between  four  and  five 
thousand  persons,  on  which  he  bestowed  the  name 
of  Conciliation  Hall.  As  the  movement  grew  in 
volume,  the  machinery  controlling  it  underwent  a 
rapid  development.  The  staff  of  twelve  or  fifteen 
persons  which,  at  the  beginning  of  1843,  ^^^  suf- 
ficed to  work  the  Association,  increased  during  the 
course  of  the  year  to  forty-eight,  and  continued  at 
that  number  till  nearly  the  middle  of  1845.  The  As- 
sociation itself  met  weekly  on  Mondays.  It  had  its 
committees  for  general  and  financial  purposes,  con- 
sisting of  about  one  hundred  and  fifty  members, 
for  parliamentary  business,  for  manufactures,  griev- 
ances, poor-law  abuses,  extermination,  employment, 
etc.  Everything  was  conducted  with  the  greatest 
regularity  and  business-like  precision,  under  the  man- 
agement of  its  indefatigable  Secretary,  Thomas 
Mathew  Ray.  Each  day  brought  from  fifty  to  some- 
times over  two  hundred  letters,  which  had  to  be 
read,  filed,  and  copied,  their  contents  to  be  noted, 
and  answers  written  to  them.  There  were  cash- 
receipt  and  cash-payment  books  for  sums  ranging 
from  several  hundreds  of  pounds  to  a  few  pence  ; 
parochial  ledgers  alphabetically  arranged  for  each 
county,  containing  all  particulars  relating  to  war- 
dens, committees,  reports,  repeal  reading-rooms,  etc. ; 


340  Daniel  O' Connell.  [1840- 

alphabetical  list-books  of  volunteers,  members,  and 
wardens  ;  books  of  American  contributors ;  scrap- 
books,  containing  newspaper  slips  pasted  in  with 
reports  of  every  occurrence,  remotely  as  well  as  inti- 
mately connected  with  the  movement :  forming,  in 
effect,  a  complete  political  history  of  Ireland  from 
1839  ^^  1849.  ^o**  ^^^  purpose  of  keeping  the 
movement  within  constitutional  bounds,  a  Repeal  po- 
lice force  presided  over  by  Head  Pacificator  Thomas 
Steele  was  established  ;  arbitration  courts  opened 
for  the  arranging  local  disputes  and  preventing  out- 
bursts of  agrarian  outrage  ;  and  Repeal  wardens 
appointed  in  every  parish  to  watch  over  the  interests 
of  the  peasantry,  to  facilitate  the  collection  of  the 
Rent,  and  to  attend  to  the  circulation  of  newspapers 
recording  the  proceedings  of  the  Association. 

Apart  from  the  Repeal  agitation  proper,  but  aux- 
iliary to  it,  and  of  the  greatest  importance  in  de- 
veloping and  strengthening  its  operations,  was  the 
Temperance  movement  of  Father  Mathew,  and  the 
foundation  of  the  Nation  newspaper  as  the  organ  of 
the  Young  Ireland  party.  Of  Father  Mathew's  Tem- 
perance movement  which,  starting  in  Cork  towards 
the  latter  end  of  the  thirties,  extended  with  such 
rapidity  that  it  soon  embraced  half  the  population  of 
Ireland,  it  is  not  an  exaggeration  to  say  that  it  was 
one  of  the  most  stupendous  moral  revolutions  the 
world  has  ever  seen.  Its  effect  on  the  Irish  people, 
despite  the  opposition  it  encountered,  was  profound 
and  lasting.  From  a  nation  of  proverbially  hard 
drinkers  Ireland  suddenly  became  a  nation  of  sober 
men  and  women. 


FATHER  MATHEW. 


1843]  Repeal  Agitation.  341 

"  Never,"  says  the  historian,  "  did  warlike  conqueror 
achieve  a  success  comparable  with  that  of  this  humble 
priest.  Public  houses  were  shut  up,  breweries  and  dis- 
tilleries thrown  out  of  work,  the  consumption  of  whis- 
key decreased  by  one  half.  .  .  .  Crime  diminished 
with  the  decrease  of  drink,  and  even  the  Irish  govern- 
ment formally  acknowledged  the  benefits  which  temper- 
ance had  conferred  on  Ireland." 

O'Connell  was  one  of  the  first  to  welcome  the 
movement,  declaring,  to  the  astonishment  of  Fitz- 
patrick,  that  Father  Mathew  was  "  entitled  to  the 
nation's  gratitude  beyond  all  other  living  men." 
Though  not  himself,  apparently,  a  pledged  teeto- 
taller, he  showed  by  his  conduQt,  in  refraining  more 
and  more  from  the  use  of  intoxicating  liquors,  his 
appreciation  of  the  benefits  of  temperance,  and  the 
obligation  placed  upon  him  by  his  position  of  con- 
forming so  far  as  in  him  lay  to  the  newly  awakened 
conscience  of  the  nation  in  the  matter.  For  Repeal 
the  advantage  of  the  Temperance  movement-  was 
inestimable,  in  so  far  as  it  not  only  rendered  possible 
those  monster  meetings,  to  which  reference  will  pre- 
sently be  made,  which  formed  the  glory  and  cul- 
mination of  the  agitation,  but  also  gave'  to  them 
a  moral  significance  they,  would  otherwise  not  have 
possessed. 

Of  the  Young  Ireland  movement,  it  is  unfortun- 
ately impossible  to  speak  in  the  same  terms  of 
unqualified  approval.  From  its  inception,  through 
the  foundation  of  the  Nation  newspaper  in  October, 
1842,  it  was  essentially  a  literary  movement.  Its 
object  was  "  to  create  and  foster  public  opinion  in 


342  Daniel  O'Connell.  ti840- 

Ireland  and  make  it  racy  of  the  soil."  Of  its  found- 
ers, Thomas  Davis,  Charles  Gavan  Duffy,  and  John 
Dillon,  it  may  at  once  be  said  that  they  were  men 
whose  genius  and  true  nobility  of  character  reflected 
lustre  on  the  land  of  their  birth.  Patriots  of  unsul- 
lied fame,  poets  whose  verse  still  makes  the  blood 
tingle,  and  the  colour  come  and  go,  men  of  letters 
with  well-stored  minds  and  facile  pens,  they  burned 
to  resQue  their  country  from  the  bondage  of  an  intoler- 
able tyranny  that  was  crushing  out  every  feeling  and 
aspiration  of  natio'nality.  Born  in  the  stormy  times 
of  the  Catholic  Emancipation  agitation,  they  threw 
themselves  with  an  ardour  and  enthusiasm  into  that 
of  Repeal  which  threatened  to  carry  all  before  it. 
Never  had  such  success  attended  any  effort  of  jour- 
nalism as  that  which  fell  to  the  lot  of  the  Nation. 
Well  written,  well  edited,  well  printed,  it  could 
hardly  be  produced  in  quantities  sufficient  to  meet 
the  demand  for  it.  It  was  devoured,  not  read.  The 
impetus  the  movement  gave  to  Repeal,  though 
hardly  so  great  as  they  fancied,  was  unmistakable. 
Under  its  influence  the  hitherto  unadorned  cards  of 
membership  blossomed  out  into  emblematic  pictures, 
recalling  the  main  incidents  of  Irish  history,  orna- 
mented with  the  portraits  of  heroes  who  would 
hardly  have  recognised  themselves  in  the  atmos- 
phere of  idealism  through  which  they  were  viewed. 
Dathi,  and  Brian  Boroimhe,  Ollamh  Fodhla,  and 
Aodh  O'Neill  were  dragged  out  of  their  obscurity, 
cleansed  from  the  accretion  of  Saxon  aspersion  that 
had  gathered  round  them,  and  re-established  on  their 
pedestals    of    fame.     One  figure  —  more  authentic 


THOMAS    DAVIS. 

FROM    DUFFY'S    "  LIFE   OF    THOMAS    DAVIS. 


1843]  Repeal  Agitation.  343 

than  any  of  them,  Theobald  Wolfe  Tone  —  was 
conspicuous  by  his  absence.  The  omission  was  a 
significant  one,  for  no  one  was  more  constantly 
present  to  their  thoughts,  no  one  more  potently  the 
main  factor  in  their  speculations  than  Tone.  He, 
far  more  than  O'Connell,  was  their  ideal  of  a  political 
leader.  For  O'Connell  they  had,  indeed,  a  certain 
amount  of  respect,  mixed  with  a  good  deal  of  con- 
tempt. They  despised  his  methods  of  agitation 
as  vulgar,  and  directed  to  merely  material  ends. 
They  spoke  slightingly  of  men  nurtured  in  "  the 
feminine  contests  of  the  Bar."  They  hated  the 
crooked  and  often  dirty  bypaths  of  political  in- 
trigue. They  loathed  the  parasites  that  battened  on 
the  Rent.  They  argued  that  passion  and  imagina- 
tion had  won  victories  which  reason  and  self-interest 
would  have  attempted  in  vain.  The  poet's  pen,  the 
soldier's  sword,  these  were  their  weapons  :  the  one 
to  sow,  the  other  to  reap  the  harvest.  O'Connell 
.speedily  recognised  the  drift  of  the  Young  Ireland 
propaganda,  and  at  once,  and  most  decidedly,  dis- 
countenanced it.  He  had,  all  his  life  long,  been 
preaching  and  practising  the  doctrine  of  constitu- 
tional agitation,  and  here,  despite  all  his  efTorts,  was 
the  hydra  of  rebellion  striking  out  its  head  again. 
It  was  irritating  at  the  least.  The  danger  of  playing 
on  the  inflammable  nature  of  the  Irish  peasant  was 
too  palpable  to  be  overlooked.  Unfortunately,  his 
warning  was  despised,  and  after  causing  a  split  in 
the  Association,  and  running  a  course  that  might 
have  been  predicted  of  it,  the  Young  Ireland  move- 
ment   was   quenched    in    the   blood   of  an  abortive 


344  Daniel  0'Co7inell.  [1840- 

insurrection.  As  yet,  however,  it  was  only  poetry, 
and  there  was  nothing  to  show  that  the  divergence 
of  view  between  Old  and  Young  Ireland  would  be 
attended  with  any  such  disastrous  consequences. 

Meanwhile  Repeal  was  spreading  like  fire  before 
the  wind,  as  O'Connell  predicted  it  would  do  when 
once  the  nation  perceived  he  was  in  earnest.  In  or- 
der to  fan  it  into  a  general  conflagration,  O'Connell, 
shortly  after  the  Corporation  Debate,  announced 
his  intention  of  holding  a  public  meeting  in  each 
county  in  Ireland  in  turn.  The  first  was  held  at 
Trim,  in  county  Meath,  on  19th  March.  The  specta- 
cle of  thirty  thousand  persons  meeting  in  orderly 
array  to  protest  against  the  Union,  and  to  petition 
for  its  repeal,  produced  a  profound  effect  on  the  pub- 
lic mind  in  Ireland  and  England.  A  month  later  a 
second  meeting  was  held  at  Mullingar,  in  the  neigh- 
bouring county  of  West  Meath,  where  it  was  calcu- 
lated that  at  least  one  hundred  thousand  persons 
were  present  to  listen  to  a  Repeal  address  from 
O'Connell.  The  meaning  of  this  second  "  monster," 
as  it  was  dubbed  by  the  Titnes,  could  not  be 
mistaken. 


"  See  what  it  is  to  persevere,"  said  O'Connell.  "  Last 
year — and,  indeed,  from  the  very  commencement — I 
threw  out  state  paper  after  state  paper,  demonstrating 
the  evils  of  the  Union,  and  for  a  time  they  seemed  to 
fall  dull  and  unheeded  on  the  public  ear.  But  now  all 
men  are  alive,  all  are  active,  all  are  eager  for  success.  I 
cast  my  bread  upon  the  waters,  and  now  after  many 
days  I  have  found  it." 


1843]  Repeal  Agitation.  345 

He  himself  was  indefatigable  in  his  efforts  "  to  keep 
up  steam." 

During  the  spring  and  summer,  accompanied  by  a 
numerous  staff,  he  traversed  the  country  almost 
without  intermission.  His  energy  was  amazing. 
One  day  he  was  at  Kells,  the  next  at  Drogheda. 
From  Ennis  he  flew  to  Clonmel ;  from  Kilkenny  to 
Skibereen  ;  from  Skibereen  to  Athlone  and  Galway. 
Hardly  a  place  of  any  importance,  outside  Ulster, 
was  unvisited  by  him.  All  along  his  route  the  peo- 
ple turned  out  en  masse  to  welcome  him  and  by  their 
contributions  to  give  wings  to  the  movement.  On 
2 1st  May  there  was  another  "  monster  "  meeting  at 
Cork,  at  which  it  was  calculated  that  not  less  than 
five  hundred  thousand  persons  were  present.  The 
meeting  was  the  Association's  answer  to  Peel's 
threat  to  uphold  the  Union  even  at  the  risk  of  civil 
war.    Alluding  to  the  threat  of  force,  O'Connell  said  : 

"  We  are  told  that  some  desperate  measures  are  to  be 
taken  for  the  suppression  of  public  opinion  upon  the 
question  of  Repeal ;  and  that  the  Ministry  have  it  in 
contemplation  to  bring  in  a  coercive  bill.  They  may 
annihilate  the  Constitution  ;  but  to  this  I  pledge  myself  : 
they  shall  have  some  trouble  in  doing  so.  I  will  go  to 
the  House  of  Commons  for  the  purpose  of  opposing  their 
bill ;  I  will  resist  the  bill  to  the  utmost  of  my  power  as 
long  as  it  is  not  law.  When  it  becomes  a  statute,  I  will 
obey  it :  I  will  obey  every  law,  unless  I  can  manage  to 
drive  a  coach  and  six  through  it  ;  but  I  will  discover 
some  plan  whereby  the  Irish  people  shall  have  the  means 
of  expressing  their  sentiments  upon  this  vital  question. 
Unless  they  gag  me,  I  will  find  the  means  of  speaking  to 


346  Da  fuel  O^ConnelL  [1840- 

Ireland.  .  .  .  Friends  may  desert  me,  foes  may 
threaten,  but  I  will  never  forsake  the  path  that  I  have 
proposed  for  myself.  I  will  violate  no  law,  I  will  out- 
rage no  ordinance  of  man  nor  of  Heaven  ;  but  as  long  as 
there  remains  to  me  one  inch  of  the  Constitution  on 
which  I  can  place  my  footstep  I  will  find  some  Archime- 
dean point  whereon  to  plant  the  lever  with  which  I  will 
still  uphold  the  fainting  liberties  of  my  country." 

The  day  following  the  Cork  meeting,  the  Lord 
Lieutenant,  Earl  de  Grey,  putting  his  own  construc- 
tion on  Peel's  declaration,  removed  O'Connell  and 
Lord  French  from  the  magistracy  of  their  respect- 
ive counties.  As  a  protest  against  this  high-handed 
and  unconstitutional  proceeding.  Lord  Cloncurry, 
Sir  Richard  Musgrave,  Henry  Grattan,  Jr.,  Smith 
O'Brien,  and  other  prominent  Whigs,  retired  from 
the  Commission  of  the  Peace,  with  the  result  of 
swelling  the  ranks  of  Repeal  with  valuable  recruits, 
extending  the  operation  of  the  courts  of  arbitration, 
and  sending  the  Rent  up  the  following  week  to 
£2200.  But  it  was  soon  to  appear  that  Peel's  threat 
of  force  was  not  idly  meant.  On  29th  May,  the 
Irish  Chief  Secretary,  Lord  Eliot,  introduced  an 
Arms  Bill,  or,  as  it  might  with  more  propriety  have 
been  called,  a  Bill  for  disarming  the  Catholic  peas- 
antry of  Ireland,  into  the  House  of  Commons.  Its 
object  was  prospective  and  preventive,  rather  than 
retrospective  and  retaliatory.  So  far  as  the  condi- 
tion of  the  country  was  concerned,  it  was  absolutely 
uncalled  for.  The  palpable  injustice  of  it  aroused 
the  indignation  of  the  opposition,  and  so  strenuous 
was  the  resistance  offered  to  it  that  August  was 


1843]  Repeal  Agitation.  347 

drawing  to  a  close  before  it  received  the  royal  assent. 
Encouraged  by  this  unexpected  diversion  in  his  fa- 
vour, O'Connell  pushed  on  the  agitation  with  all  his 
might.  Monster  meeting  succeeded  monster  meet- 
ing in  rapid  succession,  culminating  in  the  ever 
memorable  one  at  Tara,  on  i  5th  August. 

Tuesday,  the  15th  of  August,  the  Feast  of  the  As- 
sumption of  the  Blessed  Virgin  in  the  Roman  Catho- 
lic calendar,  broke  warm  and  bright.  Dublin  was 
astir  from  an  early  hour  in  the  morning.  Little 
crowds  of  people  jostled  one  another  good-humour- 
edly  in  the  streets  as  they  completed  their  prepara- 
tions for  the  day's  excursion,  or  watched  those  of 
their  more  fortunate  neighbours.  Not  a  horse,  not 
a  car,  not  a  vehicle  of  any  shape  or  size,  but  had 
been  hired  to  go  that  day  to  Tara.  Windows  and 
balconies  filled  with  gaily-dressed  women  ;  temper- 
ance bands  parading  the  streets  with  banners,  mak- 
ing a  cheerful  noise  ;  horsemen  bearing  long  lances 
with  pennons  waving  in  the  breeze,  gave  animation 
to  the  scene.  The  enthusiasm  of  the  people  was 
unbounded  :  for  had  not  the  Liberator  promised  that 
that  year  should  witness  the  Repeal  of  the  Union, 
and  the  restoration  of  their  native  Parliament  ? 
The  Repeal  wardens  were  at  their  posts  directing 
everything  with  the  greatest  precision.  It  was  nine 
o'clock  when  O'Connell,  having  breakfasted  with 
some  friends  in  Baggot  Street,  entered  his  carriage 
and  gave  the  signal  to  start.  Cheer  upon  cheer  rent 
the  air  as  the  procession,  passing  through  the  main 
streets  and  across  the  LifTey,  wound  its  way  along 
the   great  northern  road  past  Phoenix  Park  in  the 


34^  Daniel  O'Connell.  ti840- 

direction  of  Dunshaughlin.  Of  the  horsemen  in  at- 
tendance, it  was  calculated  that  the  number  did  not 
fall  short  of  ten  thousand,  and  it  was  afterwards  dis- 
covered that  toll  had  been  paid  that  day  at  Cabragh, 
Phibsborough,  and  Blanchardstown  on  thirteen  hun- 
dred vehicles.  This  was  only  one  contingent.  From 
all  other  points  of  the  compass  similar  contingents 
were  at  the  same  time  converging  on  Tara. 

For  days  before,  the  Hill  had  presented  tokens  of 
unwonted  activity.  In  the  very  centre  of  the  top- 
most level  of  it  joiners  had  been  at  work  erecting  a 
mighty  platform  for  the  speakers.  By  consent  of 
the  bishop  of  the  diocese,  numerous  altars  had  been 
raised  for  the  celebration  of  the  mass.  Repealers 
from  distant  counties  —  from  far-off  Clare,  from 
Longford  and  Galway,  bringing  their  provisions  with 
them  —  had  been  bivouacking  on  it,  some  of  them  for 
nights  together,  under  the  open  sky.  Tara  of  the 
kings !  What  memories  the  place  awakened  in  the 
minds  of  many  who  that  day  visited  it !  —  memo- 
ries of  the  ancient  past  mingling  with  those  of  times 
quite  recent.     From  Ollamh  Fodhla,  who 

"  first  ordained 
The  great  assembly,  where  the  nobles  met, 
And  priests  and  poets  and  philosophers. 
To  make  new  laws,  and  to  correct  the  old 
And  to  advance  the  honour  of  his  country  " — 
from  St.  Patrick,  storming  the  citadel  of  paganism 
under  the  banner  of   the  Cross  of  Christ,  down  to 
the  Rebellion  of   1898  and  the  "Croppies'  Grave," 
on  which  the  wild  geranium  with  its  little  pike-head 
blossom,  streaked  with  crimson,  blows  like  Nature's 


1843]  Repeal  Agitation.  349 

apologue  in  sweet  profusion.  Standing  on  the  top 
of  the  Hill,  it  was  a  solemn  and  impressive  sight 
that  met  the  eye  that  August  morning.  For  miles 
around  the  country  was  black  with  human  beings 
wending  their  way  to  the  place  of  meeting.  Close 
on  a  million  persons,  it  was  calculated,  had  come 
together  ;  but  calculation  was  out  of  the  question. 
As  far  as  the  eye  could  reach,  nothing  could  be  seen 
but  compact  masses  of  people  moving  towards  the 
central  point.  Not  less  impressive  than  the  number 
of  them  was  their  orderly  demeanour,  the  perfect 
confidence  reposed  by  each  in  the  integrity  of  his 
neighbour,  the  absence  of  rowdyism  of  every  de- 
scription, the  gentle  courtesy  displayed  towards  the 
women  and  children,  of  whom  there  were  thousands 
present.  The  deep  devotion  with  which,  bareheaded 
and  on  bended  knees,  they  listened  to  the  ministra- 
tions of  their  religion  ;  the  savour  of  incense  wafted 
through  the  air  from  a  hundred  censers ;  the  silence 
broken  only  by  the  silver  tinkle  of  the  sacring-bell 
and  the  low  hum  of  the  priests'  voices,  added  sol- 
emness  to  the  scene,  and  gave  to  the  demonstration 
the  appearance  of  a  religious  service. 

From  Dublin  to  Tara  is  some  twenty-four  miles. 
It  was  high  noon  before  O'Connell's  carriage  reached 
the  outskirts  of  the  meeting.  A  burst  of  music  from 
the  assembled  temperance  bands  announced  his  ar- 
rival, and  from  the  whole  multitude  there  went  up 
one  tremendous  shout  of  welcome.  It  was  the 
crowning  day  of  O'Connell's  life.  Victories  he  had 
won  before  —  victories  in  the  Senate  House,  and  in 
the    Law  Courts ;  but   never  such    an  one  as  this. 


350  Daniel  OCo7melL  [1840-18431 

Before  such  a  demonstration  as  this,  all  former 
achievements  seemed  to  dwindle  to  nothing,  and  he 
might  well  have  been  forgiven  for  thinking  that  they 
had  that  day  reached  a  turning-point  in  their  na- 
tional history  :  that  after  long  years  of  suffering  and 
oppression,  Ireland  was  once  more  to  become  a  na- 
tion. And  the  means  by  which  the  victory  had 
been  attained  were  as  important  as  —  ten  times  more 
important  than  —  the  victory  itself.  All  his  life  long 
he  had  been  teaching  his  countrymen  that  constitu- 
tional victories  must  be  won  by  constitutional  means ; 
that  for  them  no  political  change  whatsoever  was 
worth  the  shedding  of  a  single  drop  of  human  blood  ; 
and  his  countrymen  seemed  to  have  learned  the  les- 
son. If  they  had  so,  the  future  was  full  of  hope  for 
them  and  for  their  children's  children.  His  speech 
was  a  paean  of  triumph.  Was  it  of  him,  then,  the 
poet  wrote? — 

"  Once  to  my  sight  the  giant  thus  was  given, 
Walled  by  wide  air  and  roofed  by  boundless  heaven  ; 
Beneath  his  feet  the  human  ocean  lay, 
And  wave  on  wave  flowed  into  space  away. 
Methought  no  clarion  could  have  sent  its  sound 
E'en  to  the  centre  of  the  hosts  around  ; 
And,  as  I  thought,  rose  the  sonorous  swell. 
As  from  some  church-tower  swings  the  silvery  bell ; 
Aloft  and  clear  from  airy  tide  to  tide 
It  glided  easy,  as  a  bird  may  glide. 
To  the  last  verge  of  that  vast  audience  sent 
It  played  with  each  wild  passion  as  it  went" 


A   ; 


J 


>,.--^/. 


'^€^„ 


(Lstbnn     i^roftn'i 


V 


\ 


[l. 


TARA   HILL. 

FROM    PETRIE'8    "ANTIQUITIES   OF   TARA    HILU> 


CHAPTER  XV. 

COLLAPSE  OF  THE  REPEAL  AGITATION. 
1843-1847. 

CONSCIOUS  of  his  own  intention  not  to  vio- 
late the  law,  O'Connell  watched  the  opera- 
tions of  Government  in  flooding  the  country 
with  troops,  strengthening  old  and  erecting  new  fort- 
ifications, half  amusedly,  half  contemptuously.  It 
always  takes  two  to  make  a  quarrel,  and  for  himself 
he  was  determined,  as  he  said,  not  to  run  his  head 
against  a  stone  wall.  After  Tara,  several  other  large 
demonstrations  were  held,  and  it  was  resolved  to 
wind  up  the  series  by  a  final  "  monster"  at  Clontarf. 
It  was  at  Clontarf  that  Brian  Boroimhe  had  expelled 
the  Danes  from  Ireland  in  1014.  What  fitter  spot,  it 
was  asked,  could  be  found  for  completing  the  expul- 
sion of  another  set  of  intruders  ?  The  meeting  was 
fixed  to  take  place  on  Sunday,  8th  October.  It  was 
well  advertised,  and  people  were  beginning  to  flock 
thither  from  the  more  distant  parts  of  the  island,  as 
well  as  from  Liverpool,  Glasgow,  and  other  towns  in 
England  and  Scotland,  when  suddenly,  without  a 
word  of  warning,  Government  issued  a  proclamation, 

351 


352  Daniel  O  'Connell.  [1843- 

late  in  the  afternoon  of  the  day  preceding  the  meet- 
ing, forbidding  it.  The  situation  was  critical  in  the 
extreme  ;  for  of  the  ability  of  Government,  even 
without  the  extra  precautions  it  had  been  taking,  to 
enforce  its  command  there  was  not  the  shadow  of  a 
doubt.  O'Connell,  who  had  long  anticipated  such  a 
contingency,  at  once  issued  a  proclamation  in  his  own 
name,  countermanding  the  meeting.  One  of  his 
trustiest  followers,  Peter  Martin,  was  sent  down, 
post-haste,  to  Clontarf,  with  instructions  to  cause  the 
platform  that  had  been  erected  to  be  removed ;  and 
volunteers  were  enlisted  to  scour  the  country  for 
the  purpose  of  warning  the  people  of  what  had  hap- 
pened, and  commanding  them  to  return  to  their 
homes. ' 

When  the  secret  despatches  of  Government  are 
one  day  opened  for  the  public,  it  will  be  known 
what  object  was  to  be  served  in  postponing  the  pro- 
clamation till  a  collision  between  the  military  and 
the  people  was  all  but  inevitable.  With  our  present 
information  it  is  impossible  to  avoid  the  conclusion 
that  those  responsible  for  the  manoeuvre  really  con- 
templated the  perpetration  of  another  Peterloo  on  a 
more  extended  scale.  "  Pour  la  canaille  faut  la 
mitraille,"  hummed  Wellington,  as  he  read  the 
Government  proclamation  with  evident  satisfaction. 
That  such  a  calamity,  to  call  it  by  a  no  worse  name, 
was  avoided  thanks  are  due  alone  to  O'Connell. 
Never  had  he  done  more  to  prove  his  incontestable 
right  to  lead  the  Irish  nation,  and  the  sincerity  of  the 
doctrines  he  preached,  never  more  to  advance  the 
cause  of  Irish  freedom,  and  to  earn  the  gratitude  of 


O     5 

e 

O     "t 

5     < 

I-     s 


1847]       Collapse  of  the  Repeal  Agitation.       353 

mankind,  than  he  did  by  his  conduct  on  this  occas- 
ion. We  see  it  all  now.  We  see  how  incomparably 
greater  he  was  than  the  little  men  around  him  who, 
having  satisfied  themselves  on  the  strength  of  an 
ambiguous  passage  in  some  of  his  recent  speeches 
that  he  was  going  to  forswear  the  principles  of  a 
lifetime,  taunted  him  with  moral  cowardice,  va- 
poured about  what  Eliot  and  Hampden  would  have 
done  in  his  place,  dubbed  the  proclamation  "  a  mere 
advertisement,"  and  in  cold  blood  formulated  the 
monstrous  theory  that  Government,  having  issued  an 
illegal  proclamation,  ought  to  have  been  afforded 
the  further  privilege  of  putting  itself  in  the  wrong 
by  shooting  down  a  body  of  unarmed  peasantry ! 
Patriotism  is  an  excellent  thing,  but  knocking  one's 
head  against  a  stone  wall  is  usually  described  by 
some  other  epithet.  To  someone,  quoting  Horace's 
line,  "  Dulce  ct  decorum  est  pro  patria  inori,''  O'Con- 
nell  replied,  "  But,  credit  me,  a  living  friend  is  worth 
a  churchyard  full  of  dead  ones."  His  incorrigible 
Philistinism  was  intolerable  to  "  young  men  "  :  only 
one  sees  life  differently  at  threescore  years  and  ten 
than  at  thirty. 

A  week  later.  Government  followed  up  its  attack 
on  the  Association  by  issuing  writs  for  the  arrest  of 
O'Connell,  his  son  John,  and  his  chief  colleagues, 
Thomas  Mathew  Ray,  Thomas  Steele,  Richard  Bar- 
rett, John  Gray,  Charles  Gavan  Duffy,  and  two 
parish  priests.  Father  Tyrrell  and  Father  Tierney — 
two  men  so  unknown  to  fame  that  everybody  won- 
dered who  they  were  when  their  names  were 
mentioned  —  on   a   charge   of  conspiring   to  create 


354  Daniel  O^Cannell.  [I84a- 

discontent  and  disaffection  among  the  liege  subjects 
of  the  Queen,  and  with  contriving,  **  by  means  of 
intimidation  and  the  demonstration  of  great  physi- 
cal force  to  procure  and  effect  changes  to  be  made 
in  the  government,  laws,  and  constitution  of  this 
realm."  Bail  was  accepted  :  for  O'Connell  himself 
in  ;^i(XO,  and  two  sureties  each  in  ;^ 500.  On  2nd 
November  the  indictment,  ninety-seven  feet  of 
parchment,  "  a  masterpiece  of  intricate  alternative 
pleading,"  was  sent  to  the  grand  jury,  and  after  six 
days'  deliberation  a  true  bill  was  returned  against 
the  accused.  "  Criminal  justice,"  remarked  a  Quar- 
terly Reviewer,  "  had  formerly  fished  with  a  hook : 
she  now  fished  with  a  net."  The  accused  pleaded 
on  2ist  November,  and  the  15th  January,  1844,  was 
fixed  as  the  day  on  which  the  trial  was  to  begin.  In 
the  interval,  O'Connell  went  down  to  Darrynane. 

When  the  intention  of  Government  to  prosecute 
was  first  announced,  he  had  been  afraid  that  the 
charge  would  run  to  high  treason,  and  his  spirits 
were  greatly  depressed,  looking  upon  his  life  as  cer- 
tain to  be  forfeited.  When  he  heard  it  was  only  for 
conspiracy,  he  scoffed  at  the  whole  proceeding,  as 
likely,  indeed,  to  be  harassing  and  tedious,  but  in  no 
other  respect  formidable.  To  Fitzpatrick  he  wrote, 
on  9th  December:  "  I  have  already  been  hunting 
two  days.  ...  I  already  feel  the  immense  ben- 
efit of  my  native  air  and  my  delightful  exercise.  I 
am  regaining  strength  and  vigour  to  endure  what- 
ever my  sentence  may  be.  You  will  believe  that  I 
shall  endure  it  without  shrinking  or  compromise, 
come    what    may."      He   spoke  bravely,  but    the 


1847]      Collapse  of  the  Repeal  Agitation.       355 

future  troubled  him.  Repeal,  he  clearly  saw,  had  re- 
ceived a  blow  from  which  it  was  not  likely  to  recover 
during  his  lifetime.  The  hope,  so  near  to  realisation, 
which  had  buoyed  him  up  during  the  last  six  months, 
and  inspired  him  with  an  energy  amounting  almost 
to  madness,  had  suddenly  all  but  been  extinguished. 
Gladly  would  he  have  retired  from  the  struggle  ;  but 
retreat  was  no  longer  possible.  Like  a  ship  which, 
under  full  sail,  strikes  on  a  hidden  reef,  and  after  a  tre- 
mendous recoil  again  bounds  forward  of  its  own 
motion,  the  impetus  he  had  given  to  the  agitation 
forced  him  on  without  his  own  will.  But  he  knew 
what  the  end  must  be.  He.  had  measured  his  strength 
with  Government,  and  he  had  been  defeated.  Fine 
and  imprisonment  confronted  him,  for  of  his  convic- 
tion he  had  not  the  slightest  doubt.  He  was  too 
old  to  start  another  agitation.  Public  and  private 
cares  oppressed  him.  He  feared  that  the  people,  in 
a  sudden  outburst  of  indignation,  might  still  afford 
Government  a  pretext  for  drawing  the  sword.  His 
debts  weighed  upon  him  like  a  millstone  round  his 
neck,  and  he  was  driven,  much  against  his  will,  to 
reduce  his  establishment  at  Darrynane,  and  to  re- 
trench his  expenses  all  round.  As  yet  there  were 
no  signs  of  mental  weakness  ;  but  there  can  be  little 
question  that  the  germs  of  progressive  paralysis  of 
the  brain  were  sown  at  this  time. 

On  15th  January,  1844,  the  day  of  the  opening  of 
the  trial,  business  was  practically  suspended  in  Dub- 
lin. The  Attorney  General's  announcement  that  he 
had  discovered  a  foul  and  wicked  conspiracy  had 
raised  public  expectation  to  the  highest  pitch.     At 


35^  Daniel  O'Connell.  [1843- 

the  Four  Courts  the  crush  was  so  great  as  to  render 
it  necessary  to  barricade  the  entrance  to  the  Queen's 
Bench.  The  quays  were  lined  with  people,  and  in 
the  court  itself  not  a  seat  was  to  be  had  for  love  or 
money.  Almost  every  newspaper  in  Ireland  and 
England  was  specially  represented.  On  the  Bench 
sat  Chief  Justice  Pennefather,  and  Justices  Cramp- 
ton,  Perrin,  and  Burton.  The  flower  of  the  Irish  Bar 
was  retained,  either  for  the  prosecution  or  the  de- 
fence. But  of  more  interest  to  the  public  than  either 
judges,  advocates,  or  even  the  accused,  was  the  jury. 
Never  in  the  annals  of  jury-packing  in  Ireland  had 
the  necessity  of  procuring  a  conviction  led  to  such 
an  outrageous  misuse  of  the  powers  reposed  in  the 
Crown  as  on  the  present  occasion.  Every  art,  every 
trick,  had  been  practised  to  secure  a  jury  subservient 
enough  to  register  the  decree  of  Government.  From 
first  to  last  the  trial  was  a  bitter  satire  on  the  admin- 
istration of  justice  in  Ireland.  The  panel  was  tam- 
pered with,  and  the  name  of  every  Roman  Catholic 
struck  off  the  list.  Counsel  for  the  defendants  pro- 
tested ;  their  protest  was  upheld  by  Justice  Perrin, 
but  overruled  by  the  three  other  judges.  The 
opening  speech  by  the  Attorney  General  lasted  two 
days.  It  contained  no  revelations,  nothing,  indeed, 
but  what  all  the  world  had  read  in  the  newspapers. 
The  interest,  so  intense  at  the  beginning  of  the  trial, 
speedily  evaporated.  Judges,  jury,  and  audience  all 
fell  asleep.  O'Connell  himself,  who  conducted  his 
own  defence,  spoke  listlessly  and  with  less  effect  than 
perhaps  ever  in  his  whole  life.  But,  none  the  less, 
he  did  not  deceive  himself  as  to  what  would  be  the 


1847]       Collapse  of  the  Repeal  Agitation.       357 

result.  He  foresaw  not  only  that  he  would  be  con- 
demned, but  that  the  sentence  would  probably  be  a 
heavy  one.  Fearing  lest  popular  indignation  would 
assume  the  dimensions  of  a  riot  he,  two  days  be- 
fore the  conclusion  of  the  trial,  published  a  letter  to 
the  Roman  Catholic  bishops,  suggesting,  with  "  pro- 
found humility," 

"  The  propriety  of  directing  the  clergy  of  every  parish 
.  .  .  to  take  care  that  not  the  least  particle  of  anger 
or  irritation  should  exhibit  itself  among  the  Catholic 
people  ;  to  stifle  every  expression  of  sorrow  or  of  wrong 
in  the  recollection  that  prudence  as  well  as  duty  —  per- 
sonal safety,  as  well  as  religion  —  imperatively  require 
that  every  part  of  Ireland  should  remain  in  the  most 
perfect  order  and  tranquillity,  and  in  the  most  profound 
and  undisturbed  quiet." 

On  1 2th  February,  the  jury,  after  a  little  decent 
delay,  returned  a  verdict  of  guilty  of  unlawful 
and  seditious  conspiracy.  Sentence  was  postponed 
till  the  beginning  of  next  term.  In  the  interval 
O'Connell,  after  once  more  appealing  to  the  people 
not  to  allow  themselves  to  be  tempted  to  break  the 
peace,  but  to  act  peaceably,  quietly,  and  legally, 
proceeded  to  London. 

The  attack  on  the  Repeal  leaders  had  in  Ireland 
been  followed  by  large  accessions  to  the  ranks  of  the 
National  movement,  amongst  the  most  notable  be- 
ing, perhaps,  William  Smith  O'Brien,  a  scion  of  the 
ancient  and  noble  house  of  Thomond  ;  of  whom  it 
was  truly  said  that  he  advanced  slowly,  but,  having 


358  Daniel  O'Cofinell.  [I843- 

made  up  his  mind,  never  took  a  step  backwards  —  a 
cold,  inflexible,  vain  man,  for  whom  the  stern  realities 
of  life  eventually  proved  too  hard.  In  England, 
too,  the  manifest  unfairness  of  the  trial  had  operated, 
if  not  indeed  to  swell  the  ranks  of  the  Repealers  to 
any  perceptible  degree,  at  any  rate  to  promote  a 
more  friendly  feeling  towards  Ireland,  which  had 
taken  shape  in  suggestions  for  a  federal  Parliament, 
holding  an  occasional  session  in  Dublin.  O'Connell, 
who  had  always  been  more  or  less  popular  with  the 
Radicals,  was  warmly  welcomed  at  Manchester, 
Liverpool,  Birmingham,  and  Coventry.  A  banquet 
was  given  to  him  in  Covent  Garden  theatre,  which 
the  Earl  of  Shrewsbury'  and  Sharman  Crawford,  for- 
getting their  old  feuds  with  him,  honoured  by  their 
presence.  WTien  he  entered  the  House  of  Commons 
he  was  received  with  an  outburst  of  applause  so 
spontaneous  and  hearty  as  must  have  conveyed  to 
Peel  a  painful  warning  of  the  dangerous  ground  on 
which  he  was  standing.  "  I  am  glad,"  he  wrote  to 
Fitzpatrick  on  17th  February,  "  I  came  over  ;  not  so 
much  on  account  of  the  Parliament  as  of  the  Eng- 
lish people.  I  have  certainly  met  with  a  kindness 
and  a  sympathy  which  I  did  not  expect,  but  which  I 
will  cheerfully  cultivate."  On  the  23rd,  without 
alluding  to  his  own  case  he  spoke  at  length  on  the 
state  of  Ireland,  imploring  Parliament  to  reconsider 
the  relations  between  the  two  countries,  and  by  an 
act  of  justice  to  put  an  end  to  the  constant  strife 
between  them. 

Judgment  was  delivered  on  30th  May.     O'Connell 
had  not  been  mistaken  when  he  anticipated  that  the 


1847]       Collapse  of  the  Repeal  Agitation.       359 

punishment  would  be  a  severe  one.  He  was  sen- 
tenced to  be  imprisoned  for  twelve  months,  to  pay  a 
fine  of  ;^2,cxx),  and  to  find  security  for  his  good 
behaviour  during  the  next  seven  years,  himself  in 
;^5,ooo  and  two  others  each  in  ;if  2,500.  The  same 
day  he  and  his  fellow  -  "  conspirators  "  were  removed 
to  Richmond  Bridewell.  Here  a  pleasant  surprise 
awaited  them.  Except  for  the  restrictions  it  neces- 
sarily placed  on  their  personal  movements,  and  the 
limited  space  it  afforded  for  physical  recreation,  im- 
prisonment proved  far  less  dreadful  than  their  imag- 
ination had  depicted  it.  Comfortable  quarters  were 
assigned  to  them,  the  attendance  of  their  own  serv- 
ants allowed  them,  provision  made  for  such  as  had 
families  living  with  them,  and  admission  readily 
granted  to  all  who  wished  to  visit  them.  From  the 
first  day,  presents  of  all  sorts  —  "  monster  "  cakes, 
fish,  venison,  game,  fruit,  and  flowers  —  arrived  in 
boundless  profusion.  They  were  overwhelmed  with 
addresses;  bored  with  deputations,  till  Government 
put  a  stop  to  the  nuisance  ;  complimented  on  their 
patriotism  by  American  visitors  ;  and,  in  short,  "  lion- 
ized "  in  every  shape  and  form.  They  breakfasted 
and  dined  together  ;  the  evenings  they  spent  in  their 
own  private  apartments  with  their  families  and  more 
intimate  friends.  To  while  away  the  time  they  got 
up  private  theatricals,  started  a  Richmond  Ga- 
zette, limited  to  one  copy  in  manuscript,  erected  a 
gymnasium,  held  mock  "  monsters  "  on  a  hillock  in 
the  garden,  and,  in  fact,  enjoyed  themselves  as  mer- 
rily as  a  parcel  of  schoolboys  let  out  for  play.  O'Con- 
nell,   after   the   first  dread   of    an  insurrection  had 


360  Daniel  0^  Connell.  [1843- 

passed  away,  accepted  his  confinement  with  equan- 
imity and  even  with  satisfaction. 

"  There  wanted,"  he  said,  "  but  this  to  my  career. 
I  have  laboured  for  Ireland  —  refused  office,  honour,  and 
emolument  for  Ireland.  I  have  prayed  and  hoped  and 
watched  for  Ireland.  There  was  one  thing  wanted  :  that 
I  should  be  in  jail  for  Ireland.  That  has  now  been 
added  to  the  rest,  thanks  to  our  enemies  ;  and  I  cordially 
rejoice  at  it." 

His  health,  he  protested,  was  excellent,  and  he 
took  every  means  within  his  power  to  preserve  it. 
"  Seven  times  round  the  jail  garden,"  he  remarked, 
"  is  a  mile.  I  walk  it  three  times  a  day."  He  pro- 
posed to  occupy  himself  in  writing  his  own  memoirs, 
but  beyond  borrowing  a  set  of  the  Annual  Register 
from  the  Association  Library  he  made  no  attempt 
to  carry  out  his  scheme.  At  dinner-table  he  played 
the  genial  and  attentive  host  very  much  as  if  he  had 
been  at  home  at  Darrynane.  But  there  can  be  no 
doubt  of  the  truth  of  Daunt's  observation,  that  he 
fretted  under  the  confinement,  and  began  to  age 
very  rapidly. 

Meanwhile  a  strenuous  effort  was  being  made  to 
reverse  the  judgment  passed  upon  him  by  an  appeal 
to  the  House  of  Lords.  No  less  than  thirty-four 
grounds  of  error  were  assigned.  It  was  urged  that 
the  offence  for  which  he  and  his  companions  were 
tried  was  r\ot  legally  charged  in  the  indictment,  that 
the  jury  was  not  a  lawful  jury  of  the  country,  the 
verdict  was  not  a  lawful  verdict,  and  the  judgment 
of   the  court  bad   in    law.     People  laughed  at  the 


18471       Collapse  of  the  Repeal  Agitation.       36 1 

appeal.  What  chance  was  there,  it  was  asked,  of  the 
House  of  Lords  acting  impartially  in  the  matter? 
Nevertheless,  it  was  the  impossible  that  actually 
happened.  On  4th  September  the  House  of  Lords, 
in  the  person  of  its  law  members,  decided  that  the 
judgment  pronounced  in  Ireland  ought  to  be  re- 
versed. It  has  been  urged  that  the  decision,  not- 
withstanding the  abstention  of  the  lay  Lords  was, 
after  all,  a  party  vote.  This  is  no  doubt  true ;  but 
it  is  equally  true  that  in  assenting  to  the  appeal  of 
Lord  Wharncliffe,  to  leave  the  decision  to  those  of 
their  brethren  who  were  learned  in  the  law,  the 
Lords  achieved  a  victory  over  their  own  prejudices 
deserving  the  high  encomium  passed  upon  it  by 
Montalembert.  Besides,  there  can  be  no  question 
that  Lord  Denman's  remark,  that  if  such  practices 
as  had  prevailed  in  the  case  were  to  continue,  "  trial 
by  jury  in  Ireland  would  become  a  mockery,  a  delu- 
sion, and  a  snare,"  was  sound  law  as  well  as  sound 
sense.  On  the  other  hand,  Irishmen  were  justified 
in  complaining  that  the  process  of  appeal  in  criminal 
law  resembled  the  procedure  of  Rhadamanthus,  who 
punished  first  and  inquired  afterwards.  The  appeal 
cost  the  Association  £t^o,ooo ;  but  it  was  money 
well  spent. 

When  the  news  of  their  deliverance  was  com- 
municated to  O'Connell  and  the  other  prisoners  in 
Richmond  jail,  so  incredible  did  it  seem  that,  for  a 
moment,  it  quite  stunned  them.  The  revulsion  of 
feeling  was  intense.  Prisoners,  gaolers,  and  friends 
alike  burst  into  tears.  O'Connell,  when  he  recovered 
his   composure,  said    reverently:   "  Fitzpatrick,  the 


362  Daniel  O'Coniiell.  [1843- 

hand  of  man  is  not  in  this.  It  is  the  response  given 
by  Providence  to  the  prayers  of  the  faithful,  stead- 
fast, pious  people  of  Ireland."  Next  day,  7th  Sep- 
tember, seated  on  a  car  of  imposing  structure,  drawn 
by  six  white  horses,  he  was  borne  in  triumph  to  his 
house  in  Merrion  Square  amid  the  plaudits  of  the 
populace.  As  the  procession  passed  through  Col- 
lege Green  he  pointed  significantly  to  the  old  Par- 
liament House,  and  the  crowd  responded  with  a 
burst  of  applause. 

After  attending  a  banquet  in  honour  of  the  politi- 
cal prisoners,  and  making  a  public  appearance  at  the 
Association,  O'Connell  repaired  to  Darrynane.  He 
longed  for  the  bracing  air  of  the  mountains,  for  the 
peace  and  quietness  which,  so  long  as  he  remained 
in  Dublin,  were  denied  him ;  and,  above  all,  he 
wanted  to  ponder  over  the  situation  and  to  mature 
his  plans  for  the  future.  His  journey  thither  was  one 
long  ovation.  During  his  imprisonment,  the  Federal 
movement,  to  which  allusion  has  been  made, had  been 
steadily  gaining  ground  in  influential  Conservative 
circles  as  an  alternative  for  Repeal.  Several  pam- 
phlets had  appeared  on  the  subject,  and  the  matter 
had  formally  and,  indeed  with  his  own  approbation, 
been  brought  before  the  Dublin  Corporation  by  Dr. 
Maunsell,  whose  connection  with  the  chief  organ  of 
Tory  opinion  in  Ireland,  the  Evening  Mail,  lent 
special  significance  to  the  step.  The  repeal  of  the 
Union  he  had  always  and  still  regarded  as  a  subject 
on  which  honest  men  might  differ.  For  himself, 
though  he  could  not,  as  he  wrote  to  Maunsell,  accept 
his  Federal  resolutions  as  a  substitute  for  repeal,  he 


1847]      Collapse  of  the  Repeal  Agitation.       363 

thought  it  extremely  desirable  to  have  the  matter 
thoroughly  discussed.  *'  The  truth  is,"  he  explained 
to  Fitzpatrick,  "  that  a  strong  Federal  display  made 
by  and  with  men  hitherto  Non-Repealers,  would  in- 
duce the  Ministry  to  strike,  and  to  canvass  the  terms 
on  which  the  Irish  legislature  should  be  established." 
Pondering  the  matter  quietly  over,  at  Darrynane,  he 
came  to  the  conclusion  that  a  via  media  could  and 
ought  to  be  found  along  which  Federalists  and  Re- 
pealers might  march  together.  He  embodied  his 
thoughts  in  a  long  public  letter  addressed  to  the 
Secretary  of  the  Association.  They  had  recently, 
he  argued,  won  a  great,  a  glorious,  and  a  bloodless 
victory.  It  was  their  duty  to  use  that  victory,  not 
to  irritate  but  to  conciliate  all  classes  and  persuasions 
of  their  fellow-countrymen,  and,  if  possible,  to  pro- 
cure the  entire  Irish  nation  to  join  in  the  struggle  to 
obtain  the  right  of  Irishmen  to  legislate  for  them- 
selves. Hitherto  idle  jealousies  and  unfounded  fears 
had  prevented  such  an  union.  It  must  be  their  busi- 
ness to  remove  these  jealousies  and  fears  by  assuring 
their  Protestant  fellow-countrymen  that  they,  the 
Catholics,  desired  no  civil  or  ecclesiastical  ascend- 
ancy, but  only  equality.  It  was  perfectly  clear  — 
as  clear  to  the  Conservative  Dr.  Maunsell  as  to  him- 
self—  that  things  could  not  remain  as  they  were. 
There  must  be  a  change  of  some  sort.  They  had 
arrived  at  a  time  when,  if  Protestant  and  Catholic 
Non-Repealers  were  to  abandon  their  apathy  or  op- 
position and  join  in  the  agitation  for  Repeal,  the 
Union  could  be  repealed  without  danger,  difificulty, 
tumult,  or  force;  and  without  in  any  way  disturbing 


364  Daniel  O'Contiell.  [1843- 

the  rights  of  property  or  the  enjoyments  of  social 
life.  This  being  the  case,  why  should  not  Repealers 
and  Federalists  hit  upon  some  plan  for  securing  the 
common  object  they  had  at  heart?  For  himself,  he 
disclaimed  every  species  of  infallibility,  and  would 
yield,  for  the  sake  of  co-operation,  everything  but 
principle.  He  would  follow  in  the  track  of  any 
man  who  sought  for  the  restoration  to  Ireland  of 
the  right  of  legislation.  As  to  the  powers  to  be  en- 
trusted to  the  Irish  Parliament,  the  "  simple  Repeal- 
ers "  were  of  opinion  that  it  should  have  precisely 
the  same  power  and  authority  which  the  former  Irish 
Parliament  had.  The  Federalists-  had  not  suggested 
any  definite  scheme  ;  but,  as  far  as  he  could  gather, 
they  required  more  for  Ireland  than  the  simple 
Repealers  did ;  for,  besides  the  local  Parliament  in 
Ireland,  having  full  and  perfect  local  authority,  they 
required  that  there  should  be  for  questions  of  Impe- 
rial concern,  colonial,  military,  naval,  and  of  foreign 
alliance  and  policy  a  congressional  or  federative 
Parliament,  in  which  Ireland  should  have  her  fair 
share  and  proportion  of  representation  and  power. 
In  this  respect  he  confessed  he  felt  a  preference  for 
the  Federative  plan,  as  tending  more  to  the  utility 
of  Ireland,  and  to  the  maintenance  of  the  connection 
with  England  than  the  mode  of  simple  Repeal.  At 
the  same  time,  it  was  obvious  that  he  could  not 
consent  to  commit  himself  in  the  matter  till  some 
definite  scheme  had  been  submitted  to  him  by  the 
Federalists. 

This  letter,  which  will  strike  every  careful  reader 
of  it  as  a  candid  and  statesmanlike  exposition  of  the 


1847]       Collapse  of  the  Repeal  Agitation.       365 

subject,  spread  consternation  in  the  ranks  of  the 
Young  Ireland  party.  What  better  proof,  they 
asked,  could  be  wanted  of  the  incapacity  of  their 
leader  to  lead  than  was  afforded  by  his  determination 
to  abandon  Repeal  in  favour  of  Federation  ?  It  is  true 
the  letter  said  nothing  about  abandoning  Repeal, 
but  they  were  convinced,  all  the  same,  that  this  was 
O'Connell's  meaning.  What  was  Federation  but  a 
stepping-stone  to  Whiggism  ?  It  was  time  to  sound 
the  alarm  — high  time  to  put  a  stop  to  this  shilly- 
shallying on  the  part  of  their  leader.  They  had 
never  forgiven  him  for  what  they  called  his  "  re- 
treat "  at  Clontarf;  they  were  beside  themselves 
with  rage  at  this  fresh  exhibition  of  his  moderation 
The  loaf,  the  whole  loaf,  or  no  bread,  they  shouted. 
It  is  easier  to  understand  their  position  than  to  ap- 
prove of  it.  O'Connell  had  expressed  his  belief 
that  Federalism  would  tend  to  draw  England  and 
Ireland  closer  together.  This  was  the  stone  of 
stumbling.  This  was  exactly  what  they  did  not 
want.  What  they  wanted  was  separation  —  "a  for- 
eign policy  for  Ireland."  But  they  lacked  the  cour- 
age to  speak  out  their  meaning.  At  best,  they  were 
but  weak  imitations  of  Tone.  No  one  was  more 
surprised  at  the  reception  accorded  his  letter  than 
the  author  of  it.  He  protested  that  it  would  have 
been  better  to  have  read  it  than  to  have  criticised  it 
unread.  But  the  mischief  was  done.  Their  shouts 
had  frightened  the  Federalists,  and,  after  vainly  try- 
ing to  repair  their  blunder,  O'Connell  withdrew  his 
offer. 

Meanwhile  Peel,  having  failed  to  put  down  the 


366  Daniel  O' Co7incll.  [1843- 

agitation  by  prosecuting  the  leaders  of  it,  was  en- 
deavouring, in  more  legitimate  and  statesman-like 
fashion,  to  sap  the  strength  of  the  National  movement 
by  measures  of  legislative  redress.  In  November, 
1843,  ^^  ^^d  caused  a  commission  to  issue,  known 
from  its  chairman,  Lord  Devon,  as  the  Devon  Com- 
mission, 

"  To  inquire  into  the  state  of  the  law  and  practice  in 
respect  to  the  occupation  of  land  in  Ireland,  and  in  re- 
spect also  to  the  burdens  of  county  cess  and  other 
charges  which  fall  respectively  on  the  landlord  and  occu- 
pying tenant ;  and  to  report  as  to  the  amendments,  if  any, 
of  the  existing  laws,  which,  having  due  regard  to  the  just 
rights  of  property,  may  be  calculated  to  encourage  the  cul- 
tivation of  the  soil,  to  extend  a  better  system  of  agricul- 
ture, and  to  improve  the  relation  between  landlord  and 
tenant  in  that  part  of  the  United  Kingdom." 

The  Committee  reported  on  14th  February,  1845, 
and  the  preparation  of  a  Bill  embodying  some,  at 
least,  of  its  suggestions,  was  entrusted  to  Stanley. 
At  the  same  time  proposals  were  submitted  to  Par- 
liament for  increasing  and  making  permanent  the 
annual  grant  to  the  Catholic  Seminary  at  Maynooth, 
and  for  founding  a  system  of  middle-class  education 
by  the  establishment  of  secular  colleges  at  Cork, 
Belfast,  and  Galway.  O'Connell  strongly  favoured 
the  programme  of  Government,  so  far  as  it  related  to 
Maynooth  ;  but  believing,  as  he  said,  that  **  religion 
ought  to  be  the  basis  of  education,"  he  went  over  to 
England,  in  June,  for  the  express  purpose  of  oppos- 
ing  the    establishment    of   the    provincial   colleges. 


THE   NAUGHTY  BOY. 

FROM    A    PRINT   IN    THE    BRITISH    MUSEUM. 


1847]       Collapse  of  the  Repeal  Agitation.       367 

Speaking  on  the  23rd,  he  said,  "  Let  there  be  Pres- 
byterianism  for  the  Presbyterian,  Protestantism  for 
the  Protestant,  and  Catholicism  for  the  Catholic.  I 
want  nothing  for  the  Catholic  which  I  am  not  ready 
to  assert  for  others.  Let  there  be  fair  play  and  just- 
ice to  all."  His  opposition  was  unavailing ;  the 
three  secular  colleges  were  established  ;  but,  as  he 
predicted,  the  Catholics,  after  a  brief  trial  of  them, 
withdrew  from  them  under  instructions  from  the 
Propaganda.  Of  the  third  measure,  Stanley's  Land 
Bill,  it  is  only  necessary  to  say  that  while  its 
provisions  fell  far  short  of  O'Connell's  demand  for 
"  fixity  of  tenure,"  and  "  absolute  right  of  recom- 
pense for  all  substantial  improvements  **  on  the  part 
of  the  tenant,  it  encountered  such  opposition  in  the 
Lords  as  led  to  its  being  withdrawn. 

O'Connell's  criticism  of  the  Bill  drew  down  upon 
him  the  vengeance  of  the  Times.  He  had  insisted 
that  Government  ought  to  meet  the  landlords  boldly 
and  force  them  to  do  their  duty.  The  Times  re- 
plied by  sending  a  commissioner  down  to  Darry- 
nane  to  investigate  the  state  of  his  property.  The 
result  of  the  inquiry  was,  as  might  have  been  ex- 
pected, not  favourable  to  O'Connell.  His  tenants 
were  reported  to  be  immersed  in  the  most  squalid  in- 
digence ;  Cahirciveen  was  depicted  as  a  congregation 
of  wretchedness,  its  dirty  and  unpaved  streets,  and 
old  hat-mended  windows,  testifying  to  the  neglect  in 
which  it  was  held  by  its  proprietor ;  and  he  himself 
charged  with  remorselessly  evicting  his  tenantry  and 
by  imputation  with  being  a  participator  in  the  very 
clearance  system  he  had  condemned.      The  report 


368  Daniel  O'Cofniell.  [1843- 

was  a  tissue  of  exaggerations  and  falsehoods  from 
beginning  to  end.  The  very  wantonness  of  the 
charges  preferred  against  him  defeated  the  object 
for  which  they  were  brought,  and  raised  up  many 
friends  for  him  in  unexpected  quarters.  "  The  man- 
agement of  O'Connell's  property,"  wrote  the  Tory 
Evening  Mail,  "  is  excellent,  and  his  tenants  are 
comfortable  and  happy."  But  though  he  had  little 
difficulty  in  rebutting  the  accusation,  the  conduct  of 
the  Times  irritated  him  and,  added  to  his  other 
troubles,  told  seriously  on  his  health. 

Meanwhile,  the  shadow  of  the  Great  Famine  was 
stealing  slowly  but  perceptibly  over  the  land.  Early 
in  October  it  was  known  that  the  potato  crop,  on 
which  almost  one-third  of  the  population  depended 
for  their  existence,  had  rotted  in  the  ground.  Over 
the  whole  length  and  breadth  of  the  land  there  was 
hardly  a  sound  field  of  potatoes  to  be  seen  :  every- 
where nothing  but  a  mass  of  decaying,  stinking  veg- 
etable matter.  Fortunately  the  cereal  crop  was 
above  the  average,  and  there  was  every  prospect,  if 
Government  interposed  with  an  embargo  on  the 
exportation  of  grain,  that  the  calamity  with  which 
the  nation  was  menaced  might  be  partially  averted. 
Warnings  reached  Government  from  all  quarters. 
O'Connell  himself  was  the  first  to  sound  the  alarm. 
Speaking  at  a  public  meeting  on  28th  October, 
he  insisted  on  the  necessity  of  closing  the  ports 
without  delay,  of  taking  measures  to  prevent  the 
precious  grain  being  misused  for  purposes  of  distilla- 
tion and  brewing,  and  of  importing  rice  from  the 
Carolinas  and  Indian  corn  from  America.     To  pay 


1847]       Collapse  of  the  Repeal  Agitation.       369 

for  the  extra  supplies,  he  suggested  a  tax  of  fifty 
per  cent,  on  the  rentals  of  all  absentee  landlords, 
and  ten  per  cent,  on  all  resident  ones.  For  himself, 
he  at  once  began  to  lay  up  large  stores  of  rice  at 
Darrynane  for  the  benefit  of  his  tenants.  Together 
with  the  Duke  of  Leinster,  Lord  Cloncurry,  and  the 
Mayor  of  Dublin  he  waited  on  the  Lord  Lieutenant, 
Lord  Heytesbury,  with  the  object  of  impressing  up- 
on Government  the  serious  nature  of  the  situation. 
They  were  answered  that  specialists  were  being  sent 
over  from  England  to  investigate  the  nature  of  the 
disease !  Meanwhile,  the  grain  was  leaving  the 
country  in  larger  quantities  than  usual.  According 
to  the  Mark  Lane  Express  sixteen  thousand  quar- 
ters of  corn  were  exported  in  a  single  week.  The 
moral  of  the  situation  was  pointed  out  in  words  of 
burning  indignation  by  the  Nation — 

"  Heaven,  that  tempers  ill  with  good,  when  it  smote  our 

wonted  food, 
Sent   us   bounteous  growth  of  grain  —  sent  to   pauper 

slaves  in  vain  ! 
We  but  asked  in  deadly  need,  '  Ye  that  rule   us,  let  us 

feed 
On  the  food  that 's  ours  '  ;    behold  !  —  adder-deaf  and 

icy  cold  ! 
Were  we  saints  of  Heaven  !  were  we  —  how  we  burn  to 

think  it  —  free  ! 
Not  a  grain  should  leave  our  shore,  not  for  England's 

golden  store. 
They  who  hunger  where  it  grew:  they  whom  Heaven 

has  sent  it  to. 
They  who  reared  with  sweat  of  brow  —  they,  or  none 

should  have  it  now," 


370  Daniel  O'ConnelL  [1843- 

A  duke  of  the  blood  royal  remarked :  "  I  under- 
stand that  rotten  potatoes  and  sea-weed,  or  even 
grass  properly  mixed,  afford  a  very  wholesome  and 
nutritious  food.  We  all  know  that  Irishmen  can  live 
upon  anything,  and  there  is  plenty  of  grass  in  the 
fields,  even  if  the  potato  crop  should  fail."  It  was 
difficult,  under  the  circumstances,  to  keep  one's 
temper.  As  usual,  hard  in  the  wake  of  famine  and 
pestilence  came  agrarian  outrage.  Once  more  the 
country  was  threatened  with  coercion.  Peel  was  re- 
minded by  the  Morning  Herald  that  the  railways 
recently  constructed  had  brought  every  part  of  Ire- 
land within  six  hours  of  the  central  garrison.  The 
Nation  retorted  that  railways  could  be  destroyed, 
and  that  Hofer  and  his  Tyroleans  could  hardly  have 
desired  a  deadlier  ambush  than  was  afforded  by  the 
brink  of  a  deep  cutting  upon  a  railway.  The  pro- 
vocation was  very  great  ;  but  such  language  only 
served  to  make  matters  worse,  and  O'Connell  at  once 
protested  against  it. 

Bad  as  things  were  when  Parliament  met  on  22nd 
January,  1846,  there  was  still  time  to  alleviate  the 
misery  of  the  nation.  On  17th  February  O'Connell 
rose  to  call  attention  to  the  state  of  famine  and  dis- 
ease in  Ireland,  and  to  ask  for  a  committee  of  the 
whole  House  to  devise  means  to  relieve  the  distress 
of  the  Irish  people.  He  was  answered  by  expres- 
sions of  good-will  and  sympathy  ;  but  the  measures 
he  suggested  as  necessary  to  preserve  Ireland  from 
the  horrors  of  famine  and  pestilence  were  too  bold 
for  the  timidity  of  the  ministry  and  the  inclination 
of  the  House.     Once  again,  instead  of  the  bread  he 


1847]       Collapse  of  the  Repeal  Agitation.       371 

asked  for,  he  was  offered  a  stone —  instead  of  a  fish, 
a  scorpion.  On  30th  March  a  Coercion  Bill  of  ex- 
treme severity  was,  after  having  passed  the  Lords, 
submitted  for  the  approval  of  the  House  of  Com- 
mons. O'Connell  offered  it  all  the  opposition  in  his 
power.  He  spoke  temperately  and  persuasively. 
He  did  not,  he  said,  deny  the  existence  of  outrages 
in  certain  parts  of  Ireland.  But  he  begged  the 
House  to  look  deeper,  and  to  remove  the  causes  of 
those  outrages.  In  the  county  of  Tipperary  there 
was  an  agrarian  law,  which  was  the  law  of  ejectment ; 
in  the  province  of  Ulster  there  was  a  general  law, 
giving  the  tenant  valuable  rights.  The  remedy  he 
asked  for  was  that  the  tenant  right  of  Ulster  should 
be  generally  adopted  throughout  Ireland.  He  wanted 
the  House  to  grant  a  strong,  bold,  manly,  useful,  re- 
medial measure.  The  only  coercion  act  required 
was  one  to  compel  the  landlords  who  would  not  do 
their  duty  —  to  compel  them  to  prevent  the  people 
dying  of  hunger.  Help  came  to  him  from  an  unex- 
pected quarter.  In  June  the  Bill  was  defeated  by  a 
combination  of  Whigs,  Radicals,  and  discontented 
Protectionists.  Peel  seized  the  opportunity  to  re- 
tire from  office,  and  in  July  he  was  succeeded  by 
Lord  John  Russell. 

The  appointment  of  Lord  Duncannon,  now  Earl 
of  Bessborough,  with  whom  he  had  long  been  on 
terms  of  familiar  intercourse,  as  Lord  Lieutenant 
gratified  O'Connell  and,  believing  that  the  accession 
of  the  Whigs  to  power  would  be  followed  by  reme- 
dial measures  for  the  social  grievances  under  which 
Ireland  was  groaning,  he  entered  into  a  cordial  alii- 


372  Daniel  O'Conneli. 


[1843- 


ance  with  them.  His  poHcy  was  disapproved  of  by 
the  Young  Ireland  party.  They  had  boasted  so  long 
of  having  prevented  him  retreating  on  Federalism 
that  they  thought  they  could  prevent  what  they 
regarded  as  a  more  disgraceful  retreat  on  Whiggism. 
But  this  time  they  reckoned  without  their  host.  The 
situation  was  too  serious  for  such  trifling.  O'Con- 
nell  not  only  refused  to  give  way,  but  insisted  on  a 
public  renunciation  of  their  hypothetical  physical 
force  notions.  Rather  than  yield  on  this  point,  they 
seceded  in  a  body  from  Conciliation  HalL  Their 
secession  was  an  act  of  treason,  not  only  against  their 
leader  but  against  their  country,  more  disastrous  in 
its  effects  than  any  amount  of  agrarian  outrages  on 
the  part  of  ignorant  Tipperary  peasants.  Their  con- 
duct mortified  and  wounded  O'Connell.  It  was  his 
death-blow.  From  that  day  the  disease  from  which 
he  was  suffering  made  rapid  strides.  His  friends 
were  alarmed  to  see  how  suddenly  old  and  haggard 
he  had  grown.  In  the  autumn  he  retired  to  Darry- 
nane  to  visit,  as  it  proved  for  the  last  time,  those 
scenes  once  so  full  of  life  and  joy  to  him,  now  de- 
solate and  dreary  beyond  description.  The  recur- 
rence of  the  potato  famine,  intensified  this  time  by  a 
cereal  harvest  below  the  average,  filled  his  cup  of 
wretchedness  to  overflowing.  But,  feeble  and  ema- 
ciated though  he  was  in  body,  his  mind  was  still 
clear.  "  My  dear  Friend,"  he  wrote  to  Fitzpatrick 
on  5th  October:  "It  would  be  the  absurdest  of  all 
absurd  things  to  think  of  a  tribute  in  such  times  as 
these.  They  are,  indeed,  more  awful  than  you  have 
any  notion  of.     All  our  thoughts  are  engrossed  with 


DANIEL  O'CONNELL. 

FROM   THE    PMNTINQ  BY   T.   CARRICK. 


1847]       Collapse  of  the  Repeal  Agitation.      373 

two  topics — endeavouring  to  keep  the  people  from 
outbreaks  and  endeavouring  to  get  food  for  them. 
I  tell  you  danger  is  in  our  path.  May  the  great  God, 
in  His  infinite  mercy,  mitigate  the  calamity  and 
avert  the  danger!  '* 

In  December  he  went  up  to  Dublin  to  assist  at  the 
formation  of  a  central  board  of  Irish  landlords,  "  in 
which  religious  differences  would  never  be  heard  of," 
for  providing  means  to  alleviate  the  general  distress. 
The  attitude  of  the  Young  Ireland  party,  and  par- 
ticularly of  Smith  O'Brien,  caused  him  infinite  dis- 
tress, but  his  efforts  at  reconciliation  proved  useless, 
and  so,  seeing  his  country  once  more  drifting  into 
rebellion,  he  quitted  Ireland  on  22d  January,  1847, 
for  the  last  time.  On  8th  February  he  appeared  in 
the  House  of  Commons — the  mere  shadow  of  his 
former  self.  He  had  come  to  plead  for  the  last  time 
for  Ireland.  She  was  in  their  hands — in  their  power. 
If  they  did  not  save  her  she  could  not  save  herself. 
If  they  did  not  come  to  her  help  he  solemnly  called 
on  them  to  recollect  that  he  predicted  with  the  sin- 
cerest  conviction  that  one-fourth  of  her  population 
would  perish.  He  was  heard  with  difficulty  ;  the  voice 
once  so  resonant  had  sunk  almost  to  a  whisper.  He 
struggled  to  exert  himself.  "  There  never  was  a 
period,"  he  wrote  on  13th  February,  "when  more 
energy  was  necessary  for  the  public  safety,  nor  were 
ever  the  prospects  more  dark  and  dismal  ....  How 
different  would  the  scene  be  if  we  had  our  own 
parliament,  taking  care  of  our  own  people !  " 

But,  even  while  he  wrote,  the  hand  of  death  was 
upon  him.      His   physicians   spoke   hopefully,    and 


374  Daniel  O'Con^iell.  [1843- 

recommended  a  change  of  scene  and  air.  But  he 
did  not  deceive  himself :  he  knew  he  was  dying. 
His  physical  weakness  increased  daily ;  but  his  mind 
was  perfectly  clear,  though  torpid.  He  found  infinite 
consolation  in  the  spiritual  ministrations  of  his  friend 
the  Rev.  Dr.  Miley,  whom  the  kindness  of  Arch- 
bishop Murray  allowed  to  attend  on  him.  Occasion- 
ally a  faint  smile  stole  over  his  face  when  some 
incident  of  happier  days  was  recalled  to  him.  "  But 
generally,"  wrote  Dr.  Miley,  "  he  is  solemn,  collected, 
and  given  to  ejaculatory  prayer — the  autotype,  you 
would  figure  to  yourself,  of  one  of  the  ancient 
patriarchs  of  whom  it  is  written  *  They  walked  before 
God,  and  were  perfect.*  "  On  ist  March  he  sent  his 
last  instructions  to  his  faithful  friend — "  the  best  of 
all  his  friends,"  he  called  him — Fitzpatrick.  Then  a 
great  torpor  fell  upon  him  :  he  assented  listlessly  to 
the  arrangements  made  for  his  removal.  Before 
proceeding  abroad  he  spent  a  little  time  at  Hastings, 
where  he  was  visited  by  the  Earl  of  Shrewsbury — 
all  his  old  animosities  forgotten.  On  St.  Patrick's 
Day  several  bunches  of  shamrock  reached  him  from 
Ireland — one  from  a  member  of  the  Beresford  family. 
The  attention  touched  him.  On  22d  March  he 
crossed  over  from  Folkestone  to  Boulogne,  attended 
by  his  youngest  son  Daniel,  Dr.  Miley  and  his  valet, 
Dugan.  The  journey  through  France  was  slow  and 
painful.  At  Paris,  among  those  who  called  to  show 
their  respect  for  him  were  Montalembert  and  de 
Berryer.  Everywhere  the  profoundest  reverence 
was  paid  him.  At  Lyons,  which  was  reached  on 
nth  April,  it  was  snowing  as   heavily,    Dr.    Miley 


1847]       Collapse  of  the  Repeal  Agitation.       375 

wrote,  as  you  ever  saw  it  in  Dublin  on  a  Christmas 
Eve.  His  listlessness  grew  upon  him,  and  his  utter 
indifference  about  reaching  Rome  irritated  Dr.  Miley. 
It  was  the  6th  May  before  he  reached  Genoa.  His 
end  was  drawing  perceptibly  nearer.  Shortly  after 
two  o'clock  on  Saturday  morning,  the  15th,  while  it 
was  still  dark,  the  Cardinal  Archbishop — himself 
eighty-eight  years  old — was  summoned  to  administer 
the  last  rites  of  the  Catholic  Church  to  him.  "  All 
Genoa  was  praying  for  him."  About  half  past  nine 
on  the  same  day  he  passed  quietly  away,  "  with  the 
calm  of  an  infant  that  falls  off  to  sleep."  His  heart 
according  to  his  request  was  embalmed,  and,  being 
placed  in  a  silver  urn,  was  carried  to  Rome,  where  it 
was  received  by  Pius  IX.  and  placed  with  imposing 
solemnity  in  the  church  of  St.  Agatha.  His  body 
was  brought  back  to  Ireland  on  5th  August,  and 
interred  in  Glasnevin  cemetery.  In  1869  a  round- 
tower  165  feet  high  was  erected  to  his  memory  and 
his  body  removed  to  a  crypt  at  its  base. 

O'Connell's  death  removed  from  the  political  stage 
one  of  the  most  eminent  characters  of  the  century. 
For  nearly  forty  years  he  had  been  prominently  before 
the  public,  and  during  those  forty  years  there  had 
scarcely  been  a  political  meeting  of  any  importance 
in  Ireland  at  which  he  had  not  been  the  chief 
speaker.  In  the  three  kingdoms  there  was  hardly  a 
person  to  whom  he  was  not  familiar,  either  person- 
ally or  through  the  well-known  caricatures  of  H.  B. 
Slightly  under  six  feet,  and  broad  in  proportion,  with 
features  which  the  wonderful  charm  of  his  mouth 
redeemed  from  coarseness,  and  a  voice  at  once  sweet 


37^  Daniel  O'Coimell.  [1843- 

and  sonorous,  he  seemed  to  have  been  specially 
framed  by  nature  for  the  part  he  played  of  agitator. 
And  this  man,  who  could  move  millions  with  his 
eloquence,  who  held  the  fate  of  Ireland  in  his  grasp 
for  at  least  a  quarter  of  a  century,  who  at  any 
moment  during  that  time  could,  by  a  single  word, 
have  caused  a  revolution,  the  consequence  of  which 
it  is  impossible  to  forecast  —  what  sort  of  man 
was  he?  What  was  the  secret  of  the  power  he 
wielded  ?  What  was  the  lesson  his  life  has  to  teach 
us  ? 

The  scion  of  an  ancient  family,  of  whose  traditions 
he  was  perhaps  a  little  inordinately  vain,  he  was  in 
reality  a  very  simple,  homely  person.  Unpretentious 
in  all  that  concerned  himself,  he  showed  himself  to 
men  exactly  as  he  was.  His  faults  were  as  patent  as 
his  good  qualities.  His  life  was  an  open  book,  which 
all  men  might  read — a  book  in  which,  while  there 
was  much  to  blame,  there  was  much  more  to  com- 
mend, and  a  book  which  men  interpreted  generously 
or  illiberally  as  their  own  natures  were  generous  or 
illiberal.  Seldom  till,  in  his  declining  days,  knowing 
what  it  was  to  be  ill,  he  rejoiced  like  a  healthy 
schoolboy  in  the  exercise  of  his  physical  powers. 
To  follow  his  beagles  on  foot  in  the  dewy  freshness 
of  the  morning,  when  the  sun  was  shooting  its 
earliest  rays  over  the  Atlantic,  was  to  him  the  su- 
premest  pleasure  in  life.  Loving  nature  in  all  her 
changing  moods,  he  was  never  so  entirely  happy  as 
when  at  Darrynane.  Learned  he  was  not,  so  far  as 
book-lore  went.  Indeed,  outside  legal  literature,  of 
which  he  possessed  a  competent  knowledge,  he  was 


THE  O'CONNELL   MONUMENT,  QLASNEVIN. 


1847]       Collapse  of  the  Repeal  Agitation.       377 

neither  widely  nor  deeply  read.  Even  of  the  history 
of  his  own  country  he  was,  till  he  made  a  special 
study  of  it  for  his  Repeal  agitation,  but  vaguely  and 
inaccurately  informed.  His  one  attempt  at  writing 
it — A  Memoir  on  Ireland,  Native  and  Saxon — is  a 
mediocre  production.  He  liked  poetry  ;  but  his  taste 
was  neither  refined  nor  discriminative.  Dickens,  he 
considered,  for  obvious  reasons,  the  greatest  novel- 
ist ;  and  he  followed  the  story  of  little  Nell  as  it 
appeared  week  by  week,  with  the  intensest  interest. 
Though  speaking  Irish  himself,  he  had  no  sympathy 
with  those  who  wished  to  preserve  the  language 
either  to  national  or  philological  ends.  The  Annals 
of  the  Four  Masters  he  despised  as  a  wearisome 
record  of  uninteresting  facts.  For  the  rest,  the 
Tower  of  Babel  had,  in  his  opinion,  worked  enough 
mischief,  and  English  was  sufficient  for  all  practical 
purposes.  He  spoke  French  tolerably ;  but  when 
approached  to  advocate  the  cause  of  the  "  Lyons 
conspirators,"  in  1835,  ^e  declined  on  the  ground  of 
"  sheer  incapacity  to  perform  that  duty  efficiently  in 
the  French  language."  His  early  training  had  given 
him  aijent  towards  theological  discussion,  which  his 
agitation  of  the  Catholic  claims  developed,  and  he 
more  than  once  posed  on  public  platforms  as  the 
champion  of  his  creed.  But  he  was  only  superfi- 
cially versed  in  ecclesiastical  history,  and  his  points 
were  rather  those  of  an  acute  lawyer  than  of  a  can- 
did critic.  Himself  a  Roman  Catholic  from  convic- 
tion as  well  as  education,  though  his  creed  hardly 
perhaps  in  all  respects  conformed  to  the  canons  of 
strict  orthodoxy,  he  was  entirely  tolerant  of  every 


378  Dmiiel  O' Connell.  ti843- 

form  of  Christian  belief.  In  truth,  he  was  a  man  of 
deep  religious  feeling,  who  in  all  the  relations  of  life 
carried  about  with  him  a  profound  consciousness  of 
the  divine  presence.  Possessing  a  broad  sense  of 
humour,  which  rendered  him  impatient  of  the  artifi- 
cial restraints  of  society,  he  took  an  almost  wanton 
pleasure  in  the  use  of  language  which,  if  it  some- 
times served  the  cause  of  truth,  more  often  than  not 
only  succeeded  in  wounding  people's  susceptibilities 
and  rendering  himself  disliked.  To  Jeremy  Bent- 
ham's  remonstrances  in  this  particular  he  urged  that 
it  was  right  to  speak  of  one's  friends  and  enemies  in 
the  strongest  language  consistent  with  truth.  But 
it  is  difficult  to  see  what  truth  there  was  in  calling 
Peel  a  "scented  fop,"  Sir  Henry  Hardinge  a  "  one- 
armed  miscreant,"  and  the  Duke  of  Wellington  a 
"  stunted  corporal."  The  habit  grew  upon  him  in 
ordinary  conversation,  till  such  words  as  "  rogue," 
"villain,"  "scoundrel,"  at  last  lost  all  precise  signifi- 
cance for  him.  Fortunately  his  language,  if  it  was 
only  too  often  abusive,  was  never  feebly  malicious. 
Anger  and  indignation  he  reserved  for  public  ques- 
tions and  public  men  ;  and  if  he  was  accustomed  to 
hit  hard  he  never  complained  when  attacked  in 
return,  while  his  boundless  good  humour  and  inex- 
haustible store  of  mother-wit  often  enabled  him  to 
parry  the  weapons  of  his  adversaries  and  turn  the 
laugh  against  them.  Admirable  in  all  the  relations 
of  his  private  life — of  husband,  father,  friend,  and 
master — he  was  adored  by  all  who  knew  him  inti- 
mately. His  manner  might  be  lacking  in  refinement, 
his    language    coarse ;    but   the   man   himself    was 


1847]       Collapse  of  the  Repeal  Agitation.       379 

entirely  lovable.    His  transparent  honesty  won  the 
confidence  of  all  who  came  into  contact  with  him. 

Herein  lay  the  secret  of  his  power.  No  one  who 
knew  him  ever  doubted  his  integrity.  His  enemies 
sneered  at  his  patriotism,  and  caricatured  him  as 
battening  on  the  poverty  of  the  nation  he  deluded  ; 
but  his  countrymen  believed  in  him,  and  he  never 
did  anything  to  forfeit  their  confidence.  But,  if  his 
integrity  was  the  main  cause  of  the  influence  he 
wielded,  hardly  less  important  in  maintaining  it  was 
his  sensitiveness  to  public  opinion,  and  the  dexterity 
with  which  he  was  able  to  extricate  himself  from  any 
awkward  position  into  which  his  sometimes  too- 
precipitate  judgment  drove  him.  Unbending  in 
anything  affecting  principle,  he  knew  the  value  of 
yielding  on  matters  open  to  discussion,  and  the 
frankness  with  which  he  admitted  his  error,  while  it 
conciliated  public  opinion,  served  to  strengthen  his 
claim  as  leader.  But  neither  personal  integrity  nor 
political  dexterity  would  have  raised  him  to  the 
position  he  held  had  not  the  condition  of  things 
been  propitious  to  him.  No  man,  however  well 
qualified  to  play  the  part  of  agitator,  can  of  himself 
call  an  agitation  into  existence.  And  if  O'Connell's 
power  in  Ireland  was  such  as,  in  the  opinion  of  im- 
partial observers,  to  menace  government  and  by  his 
own  admission  such  as  no  man  ought  to  possess,  it 
was  so  only  because  he  embodied  in  his  own  person 
the  grievances  and  aspirations  of  the  great  majority 
of  his  fellow-countrymen.  He  was  strong  because 
through  him  the  demands  of  a  nation  struggHng  for 
freedom  found  articulate  expression. 


380  Daniel  O^Comiell.  [1843- 

And  this  nation,  of  which  he  was  the  representa- 
tive, is  it  too  much  to  say  that  he  was  also  the  creator 
of  it?  If  the  Ireland  of  the  middle  of  the  century 
was  a  very  different  country  than  the  Ireland  of  the 
first  two  decades,  to  what  cause,  if  not  to  O'Connell, 
was  the  change  due  ?  When  he  first  appeared  before 
the  public  to  agitate  the  claims  of  his  fellow 
Catholics,  the  bulk  of  his  countrymen  were  steeped 
in  ignorance  and  apathy.  For  long  years  his  voice 
was  as  the  voice  of  one  crying  in  the  wilderness. 
Indifference,  worse  even  than  open  hostility,  met 
him  on  every  hand.  But  the  seed  he  had  been  sow- 
ing had  not  all  of  it  fallen  into  barren  soil.  Sud- 
denly, and  almost  without  warning,  came  the 
awakening.  From  a  nation  of  slaves  Irishmen  became, 
if  not,  indeed,  at  once  a  nation  of  freemen,  at  any 
rate  a  nation  in  whom  the  feeling  of  a  longing  for 
freedom  had  been  revived.  Men  who  had  hitherto 
hardly  dared  to  count  their  souls  their  own  ceased  to 
cringe  beneath  the  frown  of  their  hereditary  tyrant, 
and,  preferring  starvation  and  death  to  slavery, 
asserted  their  rights  as  human  beings.  The  hatred 
with  which  from  this  moment  O'Connell  was  re- 
garded, the  abuse  lavished  upon  him,  was  significant 
of  the  terror  which  he  had  awakened  in  the  breasts 
of  those  whose  privileges  he  had  invaded  and  whose 
dominion  he  had  curtailed.  Nor  was  the  revolution 
he  had  effected  any  the  less  profound  or  lasting 
because  it  had  been  accomplished  without  blood- 
shed and  by  the  power  of  opinion  alone.  To  those, 
indeed,  of  a  younger  generation,  it  only  appeared  too 
natural,  and  knowing  nothing  of  the  obstacles  that 


1847]       Collapse  of  the  Repeal  Agitation.       381 

had  been  overcome,  they  underestimated  the  victory 
that  had  been  won.  In  the  impatience  of  their 
ardour  to  rescue  their  country  from  the  yoke  of  the 
oppressor,  it  seemed  to  them  as  if  nothing  had  been 
done.  When  O'Connell  preached  moderation  and  the 
efficacy  of  constitutional  agitation  they  laughed  him 
to  scorn,  and  poured  ridicule  on  his  doctrine,  that 
no  political  change  was  worth  the  shedding  of  one 
drop  of  blood.  But  Wisdom  is  justified  of  her 
children.  England  has  never  yielded  one  iota  to  ter- 
rorism, and  if  concession  after  concession  has  marked 
the  progress  of  the  fifty  years  that  have  elapsed 
since  O'Connell's  death,  it  is  not  to  the  advocates 
of  physical  force,  but  to  those  who,  in  season  and 
out  of  season,  have  preached  and  practised  O'Con- 
nell's doctrine  of  constitutional  agitation,  that  the 
thanks  are  due.  It  is  easy  for  the  arm-chair  politi- 
cian to  preach  patience  ;  it  is  not  so  easy  for  those 
who  have  suffered  grievous  personal  wrong  to  prac- 
tise it.  The  abuse  of  power  has  only  too  often  in 
Ireland  furnished  an  excuse  for  outrage  and  violence. 
No  one  knew  this  better  than  O'Connell ;  yet  no 
one  preached  patience  under  suffering  more  resol- 
utely than  he  did.  He  knew  exactly  where  the  shoe 
pinched.  Not  by  acts  of  Parliament  per  se,  not  by 
cutting  the  connection  with  England,  not  by  turning 
all  things  topsy-turvy  in  the  hope  of  a  miracle ;  but 
by  cherishing  the  constitution,  by  cleansing  adminis- 
tration of  its  abuses,  by  peaceful  legal  agitation,  was 
the  goal  of  freedom  to  be  reached.  Beside  the  rosy 
vision  of  a  free  and  independent  republic,  strong  in 
its  own  resources,  and  flourishing  in  arts  and  arms, 


382 


Daniel  O' Connell. 


11843-1847 


as  it  floated  before  the  imagination  of  Young  Ireland, 
his  simple  ideal  of  a  well-governed  state,  under  the 
aegis  of  Great  Britain,  showed  pale  and  colourless. 
But  at  least  it  had  this  merit,  that  it  was  capable  of 
realisation. 


INDEX 


Aberdeen,  Lord,  197 

Algerine  Act :  Act  suppressing 
Catholic  Association  so  called 
(1825),  153 

Althorp,  Lord,  154,  272,  275  ; 
introduces  a  Church  Tempo- 
ralities Bill,  280 

Alvanley,  Lord,  challenges 
O'Connell,  302 ;  duel  with 
Morgan  O'Connell,  303 

American  independence,  declar- 
ation of,  4 

Anglesey,  Marquis  (Henry  Wil- 
liam Paget),  lord  lieutenant 
of  Ireland,  197  ;  character  of 
his  government,  215  ;  view  of 
the  state  of  Ireland  (1828), 
216;  advocates  concession  of 
Catholic  claims,  217  ;  recalled, 
218 ;  second  time  viceroy, 
246 ;  view  of  the  situation, 
247 ;  opinion  regarding  O'Con- 
nell, 248  ;  loss  of  popularity, 
249;  arrests  O'Connell,  251  ; 
removal  demanded,  269 ;  re- 
signation of,  286 

Anti-Union,  the,  quoted,  71 

Anti-Union  Society  for  Legisla- 
tive Relief,  suppressed,  245 

Arms  Bill  (1831),  261  ;  (1843), 
346 

Association  :  see  under  Catholic  ; 
Repeal 


Attorney-General :  see  under 
Blackburne,  Francis  ;  Perrin, 
Louis;  Plunket,  Lord;  Saurin, 
William 


B 


Ballybay,  74;  Lawless  at,  212 

Barrett,  Richard,  editor  of  The 
Pilot,  arrested,   251,  286,  353 

Bathurst,  Lord,  197 

Becket,  James,  under  secretary 
for  Ireland,  93 

Belfast,  O'Connell  at,  328 

Bennett,  R.  N.,  friend  of  O'Con- 
nell, 10,  93 

Beresford,  Lord  George,  M.  P., 
172,  178,  243 

Beresford,  Henry,  Marquis  of 
Waterford:  see  tinder  Water- 
ford,  Marquis  of 

Beresfords,  political  influence  of 
the,  172 

Blackburne,  Francis,  attorney- 
general,  255,  294 

Blackwood^ s  Magazine  slanders 
O'Connell,  308 

Bolivar,  O'Connell  refers  to, 
146 

Bottle  Riot,  126,  171 

Breadalbane,  Marquis  of,  271 

Brougham,  Lord,  opinion  of 
Goulburn  Bill,  150;  criticises 
Peel's  Catholic  Relief  Bill. 
223 


383 


384 


Index. 


Brunswick  Clubs.  195,  216,  232 
Burdett,  Sir  Francis,  manager 
of  the  Catholic  business.  152  ; 
moves  the  Catholic  claims 
(1827).  186  ;  (1828),  198  ;  per- 
sonal hostility  towards  O'Con- 
nell,  307 
Burke,    William,    of    Ballyhea, 

235 
Bushe,    Charles    Kendal,     chief 

justice  of  the  King's    Bench, 

120 
B)ax>n,  Lord,  his  ^va/^r  quoted, 

116 


Cahirciveen,  2.  iSo;  "  a  congrega- 
tion of  wretchedness,"  367 

Camden,  Lord  Qohn  Jeffrey 
Pratt),  II,  70 

Canning,  George,  moves  the 
Catholic  claims  (1812),  44  ;  be- 
comes prime  minister  (1827), 
187  ;  death  of,  191 

Canning  clauses,  50 

Carrick's  Post,  O'Connell's  let- 
ters to,  93 

Carrickshock,  tithe  riot  at,  262 

Catholics,  28 ;  apathy  of,  29 ; 
divided  on  the  subject  of  the 
veto,  30 ;  disappointment  of. 
43  ;  d^radation  of,  46 ;  de- 
pression of,  84  ;  position  of  in 
1814,  95  :  in  1823,  131  ;  meet- 
ings of,  192  ;  joy  at  O'Connell's 
election  (1828),  205,  216 ;  not 
unduly  elated  by  their  victory, 
226  ;  conflicts  with  the  Orange- 
men, 234 

Catholic  Association,  The,  es- 
tablished, 132 ;  its  objects, 
134;  scanty  attendance  at,  135; 
establishes  a  Catholic  Rent, 
138  ;  rapid  progress  of,  144 ; 
alarms  government,  145  ;  suj>- 
pressed,  153 ;  reconstituted, 
161  ;  new  Rent,  163  ;  activity 
of,  192 ;  rapid  development. 
193  ;  effect  of  O'Connell's  elec- 


tion for  county  Clare  on,  207  ; 
extension  of,  to  Ulster  pro- 
posed, 211  ;  bill  to  suppress, 
221  ;  dissolves  itself,  221 

Catholic  Bills  (1813),  50,  54; 
(1821),  112;  (1825),  154,  159; 
(1829),  222  ;  receives  the  royal 
assent,  223 

Catholic  bishops,  pronounce 
against  securities,  52  ;  vote  of 
thanks  to,  54,  81  ;  condemn 
Pastorini's  prophecies,  147 ; 
letter  to,  from  O'Connell,  357 

Catholic  Board,  established 
(1812),  40;  divisions  in,  47, 
51  :  vetoists  secede  from,  55  ; 
suppressed,    84 ;    reorganised, 

lOI 

Catholic  clerg)-,  83 ;  state  en- 
dorsement for,  157  ;  influence 
over  the  peasantry,  204 

Catholic  Committee,  after  1793, 
35;  reconstituted,  36  ;  attacked 
by  government,  39 ;  sup- 
pressed, 40 

Catholic  Petitions,  first  (1805), 
27;  (1808),  29;  (1814),  83; 
(1815),  97:(i8i6),  98;  (1817). 
loi  ;  (1819),  103 

Catholic  Relief  Acts  (1793),  13; 
(1829),  223  ;  declared  by 
O'Connell   to  be   inoperative, 

Chiswick,  O'Connell  removes  to, 

10 
Clare  election  (1828),  200 
Cloncurry,      Lord       (Valentine 

Browne    Lawless),    251,    253, 

346,  369 

Clontarf,  meeting  at,  pro- 
claimed. 351 

Coercion  Act  (1833),  272  ;  (1846), 

371 
Colchester,    Lord   (Charles  Ab- 
bot),  remarks  on  O'Connell's 
examination     in    Committee, 

155 
Convention  Act,  34,  35,  138 
Cook,  Dr.,  of  Belfast,  leader  of 

the  Orange  party  there,  32S 


Index. 


385 


Cork,  O'Connell  at,  323 
Cornwallis,  Marquis  of,  71 
Costello,    Marcus,   President   of 

the   Trades   Political    Union, 

264 
Crawford,  Sherman,  358 
Croker,  John  Wilson,  207 
Curtis,    Patrick,     archbishop    of 

Armagh,   Wellington's    letter 

to,  217 


D 


Damer,  Hon.  Dawson,  302 

Darrynane,  O'Connell  inherits, 
165  ;  description  of,  166 ; 
O'Connell  at,  235,  266,  268, 
284,  323,  326,  333,  336,  354, 
362 

Daunt,  O'Neill,  friend  of  O'Con- 
nell, 9,  323,  333,  335 

Davis,  Thomas,  342 

Dawson,  Colonel,  called  "Dorry 
Dawson,"  Peel's  brother-in- 
law,  effect  made  on  him  by 
O'Connell's  evidence  in  Com- 
mittee, 155  ;  addresses  his  con- 
stituents, 210 ;  opposes  O'Con- 
nell, 328 

Denman,  Lord,  his  remark  on 
trial  by  jury  in  Ireland,  361 

D'Esterre,  duel  with  O'Connell, 
86  ;  killed,  88  ;  his  widow,  89 

Devon  Commission,  its  objects, 
366 

Devonshire,  Duke  of  (William 
George  Spencer  Cavendish), 
his  Irish  tenants  revolt,  176 

Dillon,  John,  342 

Disraeli,  Benjamin  (Lord  Bea- 
consfield),  quarrel  with 
O'Connell,  303 

Doherty,  John,  solicitor-gen- 
eral, 235,  239  ;  becomes  chief 
justice  of  the  Common  Pleas, 
248 

Domestic  Nomination,  lOl 

Doneraile  Conspiracy,  234 

Douay,  O'Connell  at,  8 

Downes,  William,  chief  justice 
25 


of  the  King's  Bench,  his  inter- 
pretation of  the  Convention 
Act,  39  ;  presides  at  Magee's 
trial,  62 

Doyle,  James  Warren,  bishop  of 
Kildare  and  Leighlin,  sup- 
ports the  Catholic  Association, 
142  ;  examination  before  the 
parliamentary  committees  on 
the  state  of  Ireland,  157  ;  mis- 
understanding with  O'Connell, 
157,  169 ;  reconciled,  170 ; 
pamphlet  on  tithes,  257  ;  on 
the  Newtownbarry  "  mas- 
sacre," 259;  on  O'Connell's 
popularity,  261 

Drummond,  Thomas,  under 
secretary  for  Ireland,  298  ; 
character  of,  299 ;  death  of, 
322 

Dublin  Evening  Mail,  organ  of 
Tory  opinion,  362  ;  defends 
O'Connell  against  the  Tifties, 
368 

Dublin  Evening  Post,  prosecu- 
tion of,  60  sqq.;  200 

Dudley,  Lord  (John  William 
Ward),  197 

Duffy,  (Sir)  Charles  Gavan,  ar- 
rested, 353 

Dugan,  O'Connell's  valet,  374 

Duigenan,  Dr.,  53 

Duncannon,  Lord  (Earl  of  Ben- 
borough),  letter  of  O'Connell 
to,  269  ;  home  secretary,  294; 
letter  of  O'Connell  to,  295  ; 
becomes  lord  lieutenant  of 
Ireland,  371 

Dwyer,  Edward,  secretary  of 
the  Catholic  Association,  250  ; 
arrested,  251  ;  O'Connell's  let- 
ter to,  273 


Eldon,  Lord  (John  Scott),  188 
Elections,    general    (1812),   47  ; 
(1830),  243;  (1832),  265;  (1835), 

295 ;  (1837),  3" 


586 


hidex. 


Eliot,  Lord  (Earl  St.  Germans), 
chief  secretary  for  Ireland, 
introduces  an  Arms  BUI  (1S43), 

346 
Emmet,    Robert,    rebellion    of, 

Ennis,  scenes  at,  during  the 
Clare  election,  203  ;  Repeal 
meeting  at,  325 

Ensor,  Geoi^e,  257 

Esmonde,  Sir  Thomas,  151. 
187 


Fagan,  Mr.,  a  relative  of 
O'Connell,  9 

Federation  as  an  alternative  for 
Repeal,  363 

Finlay,  John,  presents  a  testi- 
monial to  O'Connell,  79 

Fitzgerald,  Maurice  (Knight  of 
Kerry),  107,  188,  233 

Fitzgerald,  Vesey,  198 ;  seeks 
re-election  for  county  Clare, 
199 ;  defeated  by  O'Connell, 
205 

Fitzpatrick,  P.  V.,  O'Connell's 
friend  and  manager  of  the 
"Tribute,"  200,  227;  letters 
to,  from  O'Connell,  286,  2S8, 
293.  297,  315.  313,  332,  354, 
372 

Fitzsimon,  Christopher,  O'Con- 
nell's son-in-law,  269 

Fitzwilliam,  Earl,  11,  172,  iSl 

Fox,  C.  James,  becomes  prime 
minister,  27 

Freeholders,  forty-shilling,  pro- 
posed to  disfranchise.  156  ;  of 
Waterford,  174 ;  general  re- 
volt of,  179;  landlord  persecu- 
tion of,  iSo ;  measures  taken 
to  defend  the,  181  ;  disfran- 
chisement of  the,  223,  226 

Freemasons'  Tavern,  Catholic 
meeting  in,  154 

French,  Lord,  346 


General  Association  to  prevent 
illegal  meetings,  suppressed, 
249 

Genoa,  O'Connell  dies  at,  375 

George  IV.,  liaison  with  Lady 
Hertford,  43  ;  divorce,  108  ; 
visits  Ireland,  113  ;  enthusias- 
tic reception  of,  1 14 ;  con- 
sequences of  his  visit,  118 ; 
doubts  the  wisdom  of  prose- 
cuting O'Connell  for  his  Boli- 
var speech,  146 ;  inveterate 
opposition  to  Catholic  eman- 
cipation, 217  ;  death  of,  243 

Glasnevin  cemetery,  O'Connell 
buried  in,  375 

Goderich,  Viscount  (Frederick 
John  Robinson),  administra- 
tion of,  191 

Gonsalvi,  Cardinal,  influence  on 
Irish  politics,  98 

Goulbum,  Henry,  chief  secre- 
tary for  Ireland,  119  ;  opinion 
of  the  state  of  IrelandiniS24, 
145  ;  introduces  a  Bill  for  the 
suppression  of  the  Catholic 
Association,  151  ;  removed, 
188 

Gower,  Lord  Francis  Leveson, 
chief  secretary  for  Ireland, 
198,  234 

Grant,  Charles  (Lord  Glenelg^, 

197 

Grattan,  Henry,  5,  11,  28;  pre- 
sents Catholic  petition,  29  ; 
in  favour  of  the  veto,  30  ;  de- 
clines to  support  the  Catholic 
petition,  S3  ;  again  advocates 
the  Catholic  claims  (1818), 
loi  ;  presents  Catholic  p)eti- 
tions  (1819),  103;  his  death,  105 

Grattan,  Jr.,  Henry,  264,  346 

Gray's  Inn,  O'Connell  keeps 
one  term  at,  9 

Gray,  (Sir)  John,  of  the  Free- 
mari's  yournal,  arrested,  353 

Gregory,  Mr.,  under  secretary 
for  Ireland,  188 


Index. 


^^1 


Grey,  Earl,  administration  of, 
246 ;  introduces  a  Coercion 
Bill  into  the  House  of  Lords, 
272  ;  resigns  office,  294 

Grey,  Thomas  Philip,  Earl  de, 
lord  lieutenant  of  Ireland 

H 

H.  B.  (John  Doyle),  caricatures 

of,  375 
Habeas  Corpus  Act   suspended, 

27,  272 
riardinge,  Sir    Henry  (Viscount 
Hardinge    of    Lahore),    chief 
secretary    for    Ireland,    chal- 
lenges O'Connell,  245 
Harrington,  Father,    O'Connell 

attends  his  school  at  Cove,  6 
Hayes's     tavern,    meeting     at, 

dispersed,  250 
Herries,  John  Charles,  197 
Heytesbury,    Lord,    lord    lieu- 
tenant of  Ireland,  deputation 
to,  369 
Hibernian  yournal,  74 
Hobhouse,  Sir  John  Cam,  281 
"  Household  Brigade,"  269 
Ilowth,    O'Connell  addresses   a 

Repeal  meeting  at,  327 
Huskisson,     William,      colonial 
secretary,  effect  of  his  resigna- 
tion, 198 
Hutchinson,   Christopher  Hely, 
47 


Income  tax,  O'Connell's  opinion 

of,  331 
Ireland,  in  1801,  25  ;  in  1828, 
212  ;  in  1S29,  234  ;  administra- 
tion of  justice  in,  15  ;  after  the 
Union,  3i;crime  in(i822),i22; 
(1832),  269  ;  famine  in  (1818), 
102;  257,  263;  (1845),  368, 
370;  travellingin,  in  1795,  10  ; 
Municipal  Refonn  Bill  passed, 
322 


Jones,      Paul,     the     buccaneer, 
O'Connell's  recollections  of,  5 

K 

Kenmare,     Lord     ( Valentine 

Browne),  138 
Keogh,  Cornelius,  son  of  John, 

opposition  offered  by  him  to 

O'Connell,  36 
Keogh,  John  of  Mt.  Jerome,  his 

services  to  the  Catholic  cause, 

28,  200 
Killeen,  Lord,  son  of  the  Earl 

of  Fingal,  131,  163 
Kilwarden,       Lord       ( Arthur 

Wolfe),     killed    in    Emmet's 

insurrection,  24 
Kirwan,  Thomas,  trial  and  con- 
viction of,  40 


Lamb,  William:  see  under  Mel- 
bourne, Viscount 

Landor,  Walter  S.,  letter  to, 
from  O'Connell,  2 

Lawless,  John,  called  "  Honest 
Jack,"  censures  O'Connell's 
abandonment  of  the  forty- 
shilling  freeholders,  158,  187  ; 
invades  Ulster,  211  ;  retreats 
from  Ballybay,  212  ;  criticises 
O'Connell,    241  ;    is  arrested, 

251 
Lawyers'    Yeomanry   Corps, 

O'Connell  a  member  of,  12 
Lees,  Sir  Harcourt,  an  Orange- 
man prosecuted  for   sedftious 

language,  147 
Liberal  clubs,  origin  of,  194 
Liberators,  Order  of,  established 

by  O'Connell,  181 
Lichfield    House     "  Compact," 

296 
Lidwill,      George,     O'Connell's 

second,  92 


388 


Index. 


Littleton,  Edward  J.  (Lord 
Hatherton),  chief  secretary 
for  Ireland,  281  ;  compromise 
with  O'Connell,  293 

Liverpool,  Lord,  prime  minister, 
90,  159  ;  resignation  of  (1S27), 
187 

Lords,  House  of,  agitation 
against  the,  309 ;  reverses 
judgment  passed  on  O'Con- 
nell, 361 

Louis  XVI.,  execution  of,  8 

Lyndhurst,  Lord,  197 

M 

Macnamara,  Major,  199 

Magee,  John,  proprietor  of  the 
Dublin  Evening  Post,  prose- 
cuted for  publishing  a  libel  on 
the  Duke  of  Richmond,  60 ; 
found  guilty,  76  ;  repudiates 
O'Connell,  78 ;  punishment 
of,  78 

Mahon,  O'Gorman,  199,  221 

Mahony,  David,  a  hed^e-school 
teacher,  5 

Manners,  Lord,  188 

Mark  Lane  Express  on  the  ex- 
portation of  grain  from  Ire- 
land, 369 

Martin,  Peter,  352 

Mastership  of  the  Rolls  de- 
clined by  O'Connell,  315 

Mathew,  Theobald,  apostle  of 
temperance,  340 

Maunsell,  Dr.,  a  Federalist,  362 

Maynooth,  grant  increased,  366 

Melbourne,  Viscount  (WilUam 
Lamb),  chief  secretary  for 
Ireland,  188  ;  retains  office 
under  Wellington,  197  : 
prime  minister,  294,  297  ;  his 
administration,  299,  309,  315, 
329 

Miley,  Dr.  John,  O'Connell's 
chaplain,  374 

Milner,  John,  bishop  of  Casta- 
bala.  Catholic  deputation  call 
on,  152 


Morpeth,  Viscount,  chief  secre- 
tary for  Ireland,  297 

Mount  Melleray,  Cistercian 
monastery  at,  316 

Moylan,  Francis,  bishop  of 
Cork,  138 

Mulgrave,  Lord  (Constantine 
H.Phipps,  afterwards  Marquis 
of  Normanby),  lord  lieu- 
tenant of  Ireland,  297  ;  offers 
to  make  O'Connell  Chief 
Baron  of  the  Exchequer,  315 

Mu^rave,  Sir  Richard,  346 


N 


Nation,  the,  organ  of  the  Young 
Ireland  party.  340 ;  impetus 
given  by,  to  the  Repeal  move- 
ment, 342 ;  on  the  great 
famine,  369;  preaches  sedition, 
370 

National  Political  Union,  264, 
268 

Newtownbarry,  "massacre"  at, 
259 

Norbury,  Lord  (John  Toler), 
chief  justice  of  the  Common 
Pleas,  character  of,  15 

Northumberland.  Duke  of,  lord 
lieutenant  of  Ireland,  234 ; 
suppresses  the  Society  of  the 
Friends  of  Ireland,  241 


O 


O'Brien,  William  Smith,  duel 
with  Tom  Steele,  232;  346  ; 
character  of,  357  ;  secedes 
from  Conciliation  Hall,  373 

O'Conor  Don,  letters  to,  from 
O'Connell,  104,  112 

O'Connell,  Catherine,  mother  of 
Daniel,  4,  5 

O'Connell,  Charles,  of  Bahoss, 
son-in-law  of  Daniel.  269 

O'Connell.  Daniel,  the  Libera- 
tor, birth,  4 ;  early  recollec- 
tions, 5  ;  school  -  days,  6  ; 
college  life  at  St.  Omer  and 


Index. 


389 


O'Connell,  Daniel — Continued 
Douay,  7;  at  Lincoln's  Inn, 
9  ;  legal  studies  and  ambition, 
10;  returns  to  Ireland,  11; 
becomes  a  United  Irishman, 
12  ;  called  to  the  Irish  Bar, 
12  ;  illness  and  recovery,  13  ; 
joins  the  Munster  circuit,  13  ; 
his  first  brief,  14  ;  progress  in 
his  profession,  15  ;  legal  abil- 
ity, 17  ;  first  political  speech, 
18  ;  marries,  20  ;  condemns 
Emmet's  rebellion,  24  ;  signs 
the  Catholic  petition,  27  ; 
opinion  of  Keogh,  29  ;  peti- 
tions for  the  repeal  of  the 
Union  (1810),  33  ;  reconsti- 
tutes the  Catholic  Committee, 
35  ;  his  energy,  37  ;  opinion 
of  Perceval,  42  ;  advocates 
'*  Simple  Repeal,"  45  ;  pleads 
for  unanimity,  47 ;  opposes 
securities,  51  ;  moves  a  vote  of 
thanks  to  the  Catholic  bishops, 
53  ;  on  the  prospect  of  Catho- 
lic emancipation,  55  ;  memor- 
able speech,  57  ;  defends 
Magee,  63  ;  speech  for  the  de- 
fence, 63-75  ;  scene  with 
Saurin,  77  ;  Magee  disavows 
his  speech,  78  ;  testimonial  to, 
79 ;  repudiates  the  temporal 
authority  of  the  Pope,  83  ;  de- 
nounces the  Dublin  Corpora- 
tion, 86  ;  duel  with  D'Esterre, 
87  ;  his  remorse  and  vow,  89  ; 
quarrel  with  Peel,  91  ;  duel 
prevented,  93  ;  apologises  to 
Peel,  94  ;  complains  of  Grat- 
tan,  96  ;  remonstrance  to  the 
Pope,  97  ;  professional  energy, 
100 ;  interested  in  parliamen- 
tary reform,  103  ;  eulogy  on 
Grattan,  106  ;  advocates  re- 
form (182 1 ),  108  ;  controversy 
with  Shell,  109  ;  objections  to 
Plunket's  Bills,  iii;  joy  at  the 
King's  visit,  113  ;  founds  a 
"Loyal  Union"  club,  116; 
reproached,   117;  defends  his 


conduct,  118;  dem.nds  im- 
partial administration  of  the 
laws,  123  ;  goes  to  France, 
124  ;  on  the  cause  of  crime  in 
Ireland,      128  ;      founds     the 

Catholic   /^|^gnr^atir.n,    T-^->  ;  in- 

?titutes  the  Rent,  138 ;  suc- 
cess of  his  scheme,  141  ;  his 
"popularity,  143 ;  prosecuted 
for  seditious  language,  146 ; 
acquitted,  149 ;  accompanies 
Catholic  deputation  to  Lon- 
don, 151  ;  examined  on  the 
state  of  Ireland,  154;  assists 
in  drafting  a  Catholic  Relief 
Bill,  155  ;  his  opinion  of  the 
forty-shilling  freeholders,  156; 
misunderstanding  with  Dr. 
Doyle,  157 ;  attacked  by 
Lawless,  158  ;  reconstructs 
the  Catholic  Association  on  a 
new  basis,  161  ;  medal  struck 
in  his  honour,  164  ;  inherits 
Darrynane,  165  ;  reconciled  to 
Dr.  Doyle,  170  ;  election  agent 
to  Villiers  Stuart,  172  ;  sur- 
prised at  the  moral  courage  of 
the  forty-shilling  freeholders, 
179;  founds  the  "Order  of 
Liberators,"  l8l  ;  disappoint- 
ed at  the  rejection  of  Bur- 
dett's  motion  (1827),  186 ; 
broaches  the  repeal  of  the 
Union,  187  ;  offers  to  suspend 
his  agitation  on  condition  of 
impartial  administration  of 
the  laws,  189  ;  distress  at  Can- 
ning's death,  191;  recommences 
his  agitation,  192  ;  opposes 
Vesey  Fitzgerald,  too  ;  elected 
M.  P.  for  county  Clare,  205  ; 
approves  the  extension  of  the 
Catholic  propaganda  into  Ul- 
ster, 211  ;  imprudent  speech 
at  Clonmel,  213  ;  addresses 
the  Association  for  the  last 
time,  220  ;  expresses  his  ap- 
proval of  Peel's  Catholic  Re- 
lief Bill,  222 ;  opposes  the 
disfranchisement  of  the  forty- 


390 


Index. 


O'Connell,  Daniel — Continued 
shilling  freeholders,  223; 
national  testimonial  to,  227  ; 
refused  admission  to  sit  in  the 
House  of  Commons,  228  ;  re- 
elected, 232 ;  defends  the 
Doneraile  "  Conspirators,  " 
235  ;  takes  his  seat  in  the 
House  of  Commons,  238  ;  "  a 
broguing  Irish  fellow,"  240  ; 
itates  Refornj  nnil  P^p""', 
quarrel  with  Sir  Henry 
rSdinge,  245  ;  attempt  to 
bribe  him,  247  ;  arrested,  251; 
defeats  the  attorney-general, 
255  ;  liberated,  256  ;  approves 
the  abolition  of  tithes,  258  ; 
ill-health,     261  ;      pronounces 

.  against£oor;laffiSJI353ZIlfc.^ 
neXTs  Hsagitatio]j^_g^i.  in- 
"sists  'dn'His"ToIlowers  taking  a 
Repeal  pledge.  -  — 26&.:  de- 
nounces  the  Speech  from  the 
Throne  as  "brutal  and 
bloody,"  271  ;  opposes  Coer- 
cion, 275  ;  offers  to  submit  to 
banishment,  276  ;  wishes  to^ 
£ostijQ]ie--tlie--J4«peaP^«ESS5r 
_2£Fjhis  hand  forced  by  Fear- 
gus  O'Connor,  282 ;  quarrel 
with  the  Times,  283  ;  very 
nervous,  286 ;  his  Repeal 
speech,    280  1 .  consejits  .'to  _al 


ggmproipigf,  '}(}'i  ;  determines 
to  support  the  Whigs,  295  ; 
declines  the  Mastership  of  the 
Rolls,  297  ;  unseated  at  Dub- 
lin, 300 ;  heavy  election  ex- 
penses, 301  ;  challenged  by 
Lord  Alvanley,  302  ;  by  Dis- 
raeli, 303  ;  controversy  with 
Raphael,  305  ;  attacked  by  the 
Times,  306  ;  his  reply  to  Sir 
F.  Burdett,  307  ;  death  of  his 
wife,  308  ;  founds  a  "  General 
Association  for  Ireland,"  310; 
defies  the  "  Spottiswoode 
^ang,"  312  ;  reprimanded  by 
the  Speaker,  313  ;  loss  of  pop- 
ularity,   314  ;    "in    retreat," 


316  ;  starts  a  "  Precursor  So- 
ciety," 317  ;  founds  the  Re-_ 
peal  Associ^t:ion,  31Q  ;  hunt-  ' 
mg  at  Darrynane,  323  ;  visit 
to  Belfast,  328  ;  elected  lord 
mayor  of  Dublin,  330 ;  sus- 
pends  his  agitation,  331  ;  "in-" 
'SnfiifaTSThe' CbfptJrattOn  de- 
bate, 336  ;  effect  of  his  speech 
on  Rep,eal,.339.  ;,acknowle(iges~ 

"TuT  obligations  to  Father 
Mathew,  341  ;  regards  the 
Young  Ireland  movement  with 
suspicion,  343  ;  denounces 
physical  force,  345  ;  holds  a 
monster  meeting  at  Tara  Hill, 
347  ;  announces  a  meeting  at 
Clontarf,  351  ;  countermands 
it,  352  ;  arrested,  353  ;  trial, 
356  ;  imprisonment,  359 ;  re- 
leased, 362  ;  letter  on  Feder- 
alism as  an  alternative  for 
Repeal,  363  ;  censured  by  the 
Young  Ireland  party,  365  ; 
disapproves  of  secular  college, 
366  ;  moves  for  a  committee 
to  devise  means  to  alleviate  the 
distress  in  Ireland,  370 ;  new 
alliance  with  the  Whigs,  371  ; 
breaks  with  the  Young  Ire- 
land party,  372  ;  last  appeal 
to  the  House  of  Commons, 
373  ;  leaves  England,  374 ; 
dies  at  Genoa,  375  ;  personal 
appearance  and  character,  376; 
the  secret  of  his  influence, 
379  ;  his  services  to  Ireland, 
380;  the  lesson  of  his  life,  381 

O'Connell,  Daniel,  youngest  son 
of  the  Liberator,  374 

O'Connell,  John,  son  of  Daniel, 
269,  323,  333,  335,  353 

O'Connell,  Mary,  wife  of  Daniel, 
character  of,  20  ;  93,  167,  179; 
death  of,  308 

O'Connell,  Maurice,  of  Darry- 
nane, uncle  of  Daniel,  6,  7  ; 
averse  to  his  nephew's  mar- 
riage, 20  ;  subscribes  to  the 
"  Rent,"  165  ;  death  of,  165 


Index. 


391 


O'Connell,  Maurice,  son  of 
Daniel,  269 

O'Connell,  Morgan,  father  of 
Daniel,  4 

O'Connell,  Morgan,  son  of 
Daniel,  269 ;  duel  with  Al- 
vanley,  302  ;  declines  to  fight 
Disraeli,  304 

O'Connell,  Richard,  description 
given  by,  of  O'Connell  at  the 
Bar  of  the  House  of  Commons, 
229 

O'Connells,  a  shrewd  race,  2 

O'Connor,  Feargus,  282 

O'Gorman,  Purcell,  secretary 
{^pro  tern.)  to  the  Catholic  As- 
sociation, 82,  137,  221,  248 

O'Loghlen,  Michael,  solicitor- 
general,  297 

O'Neill,  John,  of  Fitzwilliam 
Square,  presides  at  the 
foundation  of  the  Repeal  As- 
sociation, 320 

Orangemen,  112,  113,  120,  123; 
insult  the  Marquis  of  Welles- 
ley,  125;  195,  219,  234,  300, 
328 


Palmerston,  Viscount,  197 
Parnell,    Sir     Henry,    presents 
Catholic  petition,  97,  98,  154, 
261 
Pastorini,  prophecies  of,  147 
Peel,  Sir  Robert,  chief  secretary 
for  Ireland,  74,  90,  91,   154, 
188,    197,   221  ;   his   Catholic 
Relief    Bill,    222,    227,    240, 

345,  S^^),  371 

Pennefather,  Richard,  chief 
baron  of  the  Exchequer,  89, 
235,  356 

Perceval,  Spencer,  prime  minis- 
ter, assassinated,  42 

Perrin,  Louis,  attorney-general, 
297,  356 

Pilot,  the,  Barrett's  newspaper, 
prosecuted,  286 

Pitt,  William,  24 


Pius  VII.,  48,  81 

Pius  IX.,  375 

Plunket,    Lord   (William    Con- 

yngham     Plunket),      receives 

the  Catholic  deputation,  107  ; 
,  introduces  a  Catholic  Bill  into 

the  House  of  Commons,  in  ; 

created   attorney-general,   120 
Pole,     William     Wellesley:    see 

under  Wellesley-Pole,  William 
Political  Breakfasts,  245 
Poor-Laws,  258 
Precursor   Society,    objects    of, 

317 
Provincial  colleges,  366 
Provincial  meetings,  171 


Quarantotti,  Monsignor,    secre- 
tary to  the  Propaganda,  81 


R 


Raphael,      Alexander,      dispute 

with  O'Connell,  305 
Ray,    T.    M.,   secretary   of  the 

Repeal  Association,  323,  333, 

335,  339.  353 

Rebellion  of  '98,  13 

Rebellion,  Emmet's,  24 

Reform  Bill  (1832)  passed,  265 

Repeal  Association,  founded, 
319 ;  constitution  of,  321  ; 
meets  in  the  Corn  Exchange, 
331  :  rapid  growth  of,  339 

Repeal  debate  (1834),  289 

Revolution,  French,  9 

Ribbonmen,  234 

Rice,  Thomas  Spring  (Lord 
Mountleigh),  examines  O'Con- 
nell in  Committee,  154  ;  re- 
plies to  O'Connell's  Repeal 
speech,  289 

Richmond  Bridewell,  Dublin, 
O'Connell  imprisoned  in,  359 

Richmond,  Duke  of  (Charles 
Lennox),  lord  lieutenant  of 
Ireland,  37  ;  libel  against,  61 


392 


hidex. 


Riddall,  Sir  James,  high   sheriff 

of  Dublin,  32 
Roe,  Alderman  George,  succeeds 

O'Connell   as  lord    mayor  of 

Dublin,  335 
Rome,  O'Connell  dies  on  his  way 

to,  375 
Roose,  Sir  David,  high  sheriff  of 

Dublin,  200 
Russell,   Lord  John,  introduces 

Reform  Bill,  256  ;  moves 

O'Connell's    words  be   taken 

down,  272  ;  on  the   Lichfield 

House    "Compact,"   296; 

prime  minister,  371 


Saunders's  News-Letter,  146 
Saorin,   William,    attorney-gen- 
eral, character  of,  61  ;  attacks 

O'Connell,  76 ;  suppresses  the 

Catholic   Board,  84  ;  removed 

from  office,  120,  iSS 
Saxton,  SirCharles,  Peel's 

second,  92,  94 
Scully,  Dennis,  libels  the  Duke 

of  Richmond,  61 
Securities  question,  50,   51,  55, 

81,  III 
Sheares,  John,  anecdote  of,  8 
Shell,    Richard   Lalor,  95,  109, 

113,  179,  192,  214,  222 
Sheridan,    Edward,  prosecution 

of,  39 
Shrewsbury,  Earl  of,  358 
Sibthorp,  Colonel,  302 
Society  of  Irish  Volunteers  for  the 

Repeal  of  the  Union,  245 
Society  of  the  Friends  of  Ireland, 

240,  241 
Solicitor- general :  see  under 

Doherty,    John ;    O'Loghlen, 

Michael 
"  Spottiswoode  Gang,"  312 
St.  Agatha,  Rome,    O'Connell's 

heart    buried     in   the   church 

of.  375 
Stanley,  Edward  (Earl  of  Derby), 

chief    secretary    for    Ireland, 


246,  260,  262,  269 ;  great 
speech  on  the  Coercion  Bill 
{1833),  275;  appointed  colonial 
secretary,  281  ;  his  Land  Bill 
condemned  by  O'Connell,  367 

Stapleton,  Dr.  Gregor)-,  princi- 
pal of  St.  Omer's,  7 

Staunton,  Michael,  Editor  of  the 
Register,  244 

Steele,  Tom,  head  pacificator, 
199,  221  ;  fights  a  duel  with 
Smith  O'Brien,  232  ;  arrested, 

251,  333.  353 

St.  Omer,  O'Connell  at,  7 

Stourton,  Lord,  dinner  given  by, 
to  O'Connell,  1 54 

Stuart,  H.  Villiers,  contests 
county  Waterford,  172,  174 

Sugrue,  Charles,  cousin  of  O'Con- 
nell, 222,  225 

Sussex,  Duke  of,  154 


Talbot,  Lord,  lord  lieutenant  of 
Ireland,  119 

Tara  Hill,  monster  meeting  at, 
348 

Temperance  movement,  influ- 
ence on  Repeal  agitation,  341 

Times,  the,  2S3,  306,  367 

Tipperary,  peasantry  in  county 
of,  212;  riots  in,  213;  agrarian 
disturbances  in,  234 

Tithes  question,  258,  267 

Tone,  Theobald  Wolfe,  I2,  207, 
290 ;  influence  of,  on  the 
Young  Ireland  movement,  343 

Trades  Political  Union,  264 

Trades-Unionism,  314 

Tuam,  archbishop  of,  joins  the 
Repeal  agitation,  322 

U 

Ulster  called  the  "  Black  North," 
207 

Union,  Act  of,  18  ;  petition  for 
repeal  of,  23,  26 ;  baneful 
ef  f  ects  of,  31 ;  repealof. 


Index. 


393 


broached  by  O'Connell  (1827), 
187 ;     significance     of,     190  ; 
agitation  for  the  repeal  of  the, 
241,  282,  290 
United  Irishmen,  12 


Veto,  the,  30,  50 
Victoria,  Queen,  O'Connell's 
enthusiasm  for,  311 

W 

Waterford,  county  of,  represen- 
tation of,  172,  178 

Waterford,  Marquis  of  (Henry 
Beresford),  creates  forty-shil- 
ling freeholders,  170;  opposi- 
tion to,  172  ;  distressed  at  the 
defection  of  his  tenants,  179 

Weekly  Register,  organ  of  the 
Catholic  Association,  193 

Wellesley,  Marquis  of,  lord 
lieutenant  of  Ireland,  119 ; 
Orange  insult  to,  126  ;  expres- 
sion of  public  sympathy  with, 
127  ;  his  manner  of  adminis- 
trating the  laws,  148 ;  lord 
lieutenant  a  second  time,  286 

Wellesley  -  Pole,   William  (Earl 


of     Mornington)     chief    sec- 
retary for  Ireland,  his  circular 
letter,  36 
Wellington,   Duke    of,    view   of 
the   Catholic     question,     145, 
188;  his   administration,  191, 
197  ;    disinclined    to   concede 
Emancipation,    217  ;  letter  to 
the     archbishop    of   Armagh, 
218  ;    resignation  of,  246  ;  ex- 
pects a  civil  war,  352 
Westmoreland,  Earl  of,  govern- 
ment of,  69 
Wharncliffe,  Lord,  his  appeal  to 

the  House  of  Lords,  361 
Whiteboyism,  revival  of,  269,  274 
William  IV.,  death  of,  311 
"Wings,"     the.     Bills   for    dis- 
franchising the  forty  -  shilling 
freeholders  and  endowing   the 
Catholic  clergy  so  called,  168 
"Witchery"  resolutions,  43 
Wyse,  Thomas,  historian  of  the 
Catholic  Association,  194 


York,  Duke  of,    "No  Popery" 

speech  of  the,  159 
Young  Ireland,  343,  353,  365,  373 


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